The William Whewell Centre for Science & Natural Theology is pleased to announce the inaugural event in the John Ray Lecture Series in Cambridge, U.K.

Professor of information science Dr. Steinar Thorvaldsen will present on "DNA as Information: a Framework for Quantifying Genetic Information", followed by a response from molecular biologist and CSC Senior Fellow Dr. Douglas Axe and CSC Senior Fellow Dr. Brian Miller.

Join us in the Terrace Room & Lecture Theatre of Trinity Hall on Wednesday, May 7, for a 7:00 pm drinks reception and 7:30-9:30 pm lecture.

See these maps for vehicle, cycle, and pedestrian routes to the Terrace Room of Trinity Hall's Central Site.

Steinar Thorvaldsen is professor of information science at the Arctic University of Norway and served for two periods as visiting professor at Aalborg University in Denmark. His research interests include bioinformatics, comparative genomics, population genetics, and machine learning. In 2001, he received the Research Prize at Tromse University College. Thorvaldsen is author of several textbooks in Norwegian and was for many years a member of the board of Academia Borealis, the North-Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. In this special lecture, Dr. Thorvadsen will present his latest research on genetic information in DNA, showing why the connection between bioinformatics and genetics matters to science and how to communicate it.

Douglas Axe is a Senior Fellow of the Discovery Institute's Center for Science & Culture, the Rosa Endowed Chair of Molecular Biology at Biola University, the founding director of Biologic Institute, the founding editor of BIO-Complexity, and the author of Undeniable: How Biology Confirms Our Intuition That Life Is Designed. After completing his PhD at Caltech, he held postdoctoral and research scientist positions at the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Medical Research Council Centre. His research, which examines the functional and structural constraints on the evolution of proteins and protein systems, has been featured in many scientific journals, including the Journal of Molecular Biology, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, BIO-Complexity, and Nature, and in such books as Signature in the Cell and Darwin’s Doubt by Stephen Meyer and Life’s Solution by Simon Conway Morris.

Brian Miller is a Senior Fellow and Research Coordinator for the Center for Science and Culture at the Discovery Institute. He obtained a BS in physics with a minor in engineering from MIT and a PhD in complex systems physics from Duke University. His research focuses on thermodynamics, information theory, protein rarity, and the origin of life. He helps manage Discovery Institute's ID 3.0 Research Program and helped launch the biannual Conference on Engineering in the Life Sciences (CELS). He has contributed to multiple books and technical journals covering the debate over intelligent design, including The Mystery of Life's Origin: The Continuing Controversy, The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith, and Inference Review. He regularly contributes to Evolution News & Science Today and the ID the Future podcast.

Please note: This event will be filmed and may be made available later in the year. While the primary footage will focus on the speakers, some shots may also include audience members including yourself. By attending this event, you acknowledge and consent to our unqualified right to take photos and video recordings and grant the perpetual right to use the same, without compensation, for future broadcasts. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact eventbrite@discovery.org.

For more information on this event, please contact Alistair McKitterick at amckitterick@whewellcentre.uk.

The Inaugural John Ray Lecture Featuring Drs. Thorvaldsen, Axe, and Miller