The Richard Dawkins lecture at the University of Oklahoma on March 6th was billed as a highlight of the Darwin 2009 program at OU and it certainly didn’t disappoint. The lecture was moved last month from it’s original location to McCasland Field House so as to accommodate the nearly 3000 people who attended. Dr. Dawkins gave a 40 minute talk on “The Purpose of Purpose” before taking questions from the audience and signing books until late into the evening.
The Oklahoma Legislature provided fodder for interesting opening comments from Dawkins as Representative Todd Thomsen, (R-Ada), filed two similar resolutions (HR 1014, and the “compromise” HR 1015) protesting his presence in campus.
You can view a video of the opening remarks here. In the intro, Dr. Dawkins praised the efforts of the citizens group Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education and announced a $5000 donation to OESE from the Richard Dawkins Foundation to support their efforts!
A summary of the talk is on the Panda’s Thumb blog and can be accessed here
More pictures and descriptions are found courtesy OU’s Darwin 2009 committee and their site accessed here.