Oct. 19 Lecture Explores Walking Whales and Other Mysteries Of Earth s Ancient Past

In the middle of a desert in Pakistan, University of Michigan paleontologist Phillip Gingerich discovered a fossil that forever changed the way scientists look at not only the planet’s largest mammals, but also the evolution of life on Earth. 

The distinguished lecturer and scholar will discuss what he found — a whale skeleton with the remains of hind limbs and feet — during his 7 p.m. Oct. 19 lecture in Room 127 of McMicken Hall. 

Held in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center (CMC) as part of their monthly Insights Lecture Series, the event is part of the ongoing “Pathways to Change” collaboration between the University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences and CMC and coincides with the installation of "Cincinnati Under the Sea" in the third floor of the Geology Physics Building, a fossil-filled exhibit that showcases the region’s past as an inland sea teeming with prehistoric life, in the third floor of the Geology Physics Building. 

Gingerich, a distinguished lecturer and scholar who is a professor emeritus of Earth and environmental sciences, ecology and evolutionary biology and anthropology, also made waves with his discovery in what is now known as the Valley of the Whales. Deep in the desert, Gingerich and his team sifted through layer after layer of what was once an inland sea, rich with life. In Egypt’s Wadi El-Hitan Valley, they found the first of what would number nearly 400 whale skeletons that represent three different species dating back 40 million years. 

“Phil’s groundbreaking discoveries of early cetaceans have illuminated a previously obscure evolutionary transition from terrestrial to secondarily aquatic mammals,” said Glenn Storrs, the Withrow Farny curator of vertebrate paleontology at CMC. “Whale evolution, as a result, is one of the best-documented evolutionary sequences in the fossil record.”

College of Arts and Sciences Distinguished Research Geology Professor Carlton Brett was a graduate student in Michigan when he first met Gingerich. “He was an important mentor to the graduate students,” said Brett, who will introduce Gingerich before his lecture. 

Brett said Gingerich’s argument that evolution happens gradually over time, which conflicted with the developing view of paleontologists, Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould, of more stop-and-start changes, inspired him. “Although I did not fully agree with him, it was still exciting, as a graduate student, to see a paleontologist bucking the tide. It was a good lesson in how science works.”

This lecture is made possible by Pathways to Change, a collaboration between CMC’s Curate My Community initiative and University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences. At the University of Cincinnati College of Arts and Sciences, every semester, every class and every day offers new pathways to change. As we explore new ideas and revisit old ones, we also serve as an important hub of learning and discovery for our entire community. Curate My Community offers Cincinnatians the chance to see CMC exhibits in action while historic Union Terminal undergoes renovations. (Note: Gingerich will also give a talk earlier in the day for the Department of Geology entitled: Rates in Geology and Paleontology: Misleading Ourselves and Others.)

Evening lecture guests are invited to visit the Pathways to Change exhibits Cincinnati Under the Sea on the third floor of the Geology-Physics Building, and Climate Change and Us on the third floor of Tangeman University Center. Keep an eye out for exhibits Big Bone Lick: A Place of Disovery and Ipuh: Our Vanishing Species coming in late 2016.

To RSVP for the free evening lecture and tour of the exhibit, please click here. To keep up-to-date on the Pathways to Change project, follow the College of Arts and Sciences on Twitter and Facebook.