Meet the Guest Curator
David Kohn, Ph.D., has been teaching about Charles Darwin and has been immersed in the study of Darwin for over 30 years. His fascination with Darwin began when, as a graduate student at the University of Massachusetts, he attended a course by a visiting professor who taught plant ecology from a Darwinian perspective. David changed his intention of becoming a botanist with a focus on population ecology to becoming a historian of science, and he wrote his thesis on the founder of evolution by natural selection: Charles Darwin’s Path to Natural Selection. He’s been engaged in Darwinism ever since. David recently retired from Drew University as Oxnam Professor of Science and Society Emeritus and is now General Editor of the Darwin Digital Library of Evolution, based at the American Museum of Natural History and dedicated to producing a definitive, online edition of Darwin’s scientific manuscripts and reading notes (totaling nearly 7 million words).
David’s distinction as a Darwin scholar has been recognized through many related appointments and positions, including as lecturer at Harvard University, senior research fellow with the Charles Darwin Trust in London, member of the conservation management committee of Darwin’s home Down House, and advisor to Darwin exhibitions at the American Museum of Natural History and the Cambridge University Botanic Garden. In 1987 David and collaborators published Charles Darwin’s Notebooks: 1836–1844. David is also the author of several influential works on Darwin’s intellectual development, the role of religion and aesthetics in his thinking, and the development of Darwin’s principle of divergence. Currently, David is writing a book on Darwin’s lifelong engagement with botany.
The New York Botanical Garden is pleased to have David Kohn as guest curator and advisor of Darwin’s Garden: An Evolutionary Adventure.
Q & A with Guest Curator David Kohn
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