Lynn Margulis.

The sessions, under the title “The Earth symbiotic: how Lynn Margulis started a scientific revolution”, took place on December 11 and 12, and included film screenings, conferences and a round table. The film SYMBIOTIC EARTH: How Lynn Margulis rocked the boat and started a scientific revolution deals with the life and professional career of the microbiologist, and analyzes her contribution to the development of the theory of symbiosis.

The sessions have been organized by the Cavanilles Institute of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Biology of the University of Valencia, and have had the collaboration of the Scientific Culture Unit and Innovation.

The planned conferences have revolved around the figure of microbiologist Lynn Margulis, and the work she disseminated, on the theory of endosymbiosis and its application in different realities around the world. The concepts of different types of symbiosis between various organisms and the advances that have led to conceptual changes in classical paradigms have also been reviewed and updated. The speakers have been professors from Spanish universities, such as the Autonomous University of Madrid, the Complutense University or the Rey Juan Carlos University, but also from universities in Argentina (National University of Mar de Plata) and Italy (University of Trieste).

The coordinator of the conference, Eva Barreno, professor of Botany, presented the event. For his part, Rubén Duro (Science into Images), representing Hummingbird Films, the production company that made the documentary about Lynn Margulis, introduced the film. The opening ceremony also included two vice-rectors of the University of Valencia: that of Equality, Diversity and Sustainability, Elena Martínez; and that of Innovation and Transfer, Dolores Real.

The events took place on December 11 in the Darwin Room of the Burjassot campus of the University of Valencia and on December 12 in the Hall of Degrees of the Faculty of Mathematics.

Lynn Margulis, a pioneering woman in molecular biology

Lynn Margulis began her scientific career very young and will be remembered for having developed the role of symbiosis as a source of evolutionary innovation. His pioneering work in the 1960s favored the progressive acceptance of the origin of complex eukaryotic cells from the aggregation and joint transmission of simpler cells. Current evolutionary theory recognizes and incorporates a good part of the ideas that Margulis defended amid the indifference, if not rejection, of the majority of the scientific community of the time. Other of his scientific contributions, the result of tireless and enthusiastic work until the moment of his disappearance, have not been free of controversy either. An example was his contribution from microbiology to James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis. Margulis was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Valencia in 2001. width="560">

More information: program of the conferences (1), acts of Wednesday (2), Thursday events (3) and round table (4). (Click on the link to download any of the four documents).

Attached images: Photographs of the opening of the conference on December 11

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