Date: Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Social Sciences &
Humanities Building, Room 1100

The Division of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and the Department of Geology are pleased to welcome geologist and MacArthur Fellow David R. Montgomery to UC Davis this fall. He will present a lecture based on his book, The Rocks Don’t Lie: A Geologist Investigates Noah’s Flood. He will discuss how the mystery of the Bible’s greatest story shaped geology.

In Tibet, geologist Montgomery heard a local story about a great flood that bore a striking similarity to Noah’s flood. Intrigued, Montgomery began investigating the
world’s flood stories and—drawing from historic works by theologians, natural philosophers, and scientists—discovered the counterintuitive role Noah’s flood played in the development of both geology and creationism. Steno, the grandfather of geology, even invoked the flood in laying geology’s founding principles based on his observations of northern Italian landscapes. Centuries later, the founders of modern creationism based their irrational view of a global flood on a perceptive critique of geology. With an explorer’s eye and a refreshing approach to both faith and science, Montgomery takes readers on a journey across landscapes and cultures. In the process we discover the illusive nature of truth, whether viewed through the lens of science or religion, and how it changed through history and continues changing, even today. Montgomery will be available for a book signing and books will be available for purchase directly after the lecture.

This event is free and open to the public.