Autumn Lecture Series

Snobelen and Meyer

The History of British Natural Theology and its Prospects for Renewal

October 16, 2025 | 7:00-9:00pm

Details

Sir Isaac Newton and the History of British Natural Theology

Stephen D. Snobelen

_{Professor of the History of Science, University of King’s College, Nova Scotia}

Stephen D. Snobelen is a historian of science who teaches in the History of Science and Technology Programme at the University of King’s College, Halifax, Nova Scotia. He received his MPhil and PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science from the University of Cambridge. His current research focuses on the relationship between science and religion in Isaac Newton’s thought. He has published over forty papers on Newton, early modern theology and the history of science. He is on the editorial board of Oxford University’s Newton Project and is the director of the Newton Project Canada.

Prospects for the Renewal of Natural Theology in Physics and Cosmology

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Stephen C. Meyer

_{author Return of the God Hypothesis}

Dr. Stephen C. Meyer received his PhD from the University of Cambridge in the philosophy of science. A former geophysicist and college professor, he now directs the Center for Science and Culture at Discovery Institute in Seattle. He is author of the New York Times-bestseller Darwin’s Doubt (2013) as well as the book Signature in the Cell (2009) and Return of the God Hypothesis (2021). In 2004, Meyer ignited a firestorm of media and scientific controversy when a biology journal at the Smithsonian Institution published his peer-reviewed scientific article advancing intelligent design. Meyer has been featured on national television and radio programs, including The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, CBS’s Sunday Morning, NBC’s Nightly News, ABC’s World News, Good Morning America, Nightline, FOX News Live, and the Tavis Smiley show on PBS. He has also been featured in two New York Times front-page stories and has garnered attention in other top-national media.

Tour and Meyer

The Origin and Design of Life

October 17, 2025 | 7:00-9:00pm

Details

Are Prebiotic Simulation Experiments Simulating the Origin of Life?

James Tour

_{T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry Professor of Materials Science & Nanoengineering, Rice University}

James Tour is the T. T. and W. F. Chao Professor of Chemistry, Professor of Computer Science, and Professor of Materials Science and Nano-Engineering at Rice University. A synthetic organic chemist, he received his BS in Chemistry from Syracuse University, his PhD in synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry from Purdue University, and postdoctoral training in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Wisconsin and Stanford University. He has served on the faculty of the University of South Carolina and as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Tour has over 700 research publications and over 130 patent families.

Signature in the Cell: DNA and The Case for Intelligent Design

Stephen C. Meyer

_{author Signature in the Cell}

Fraser and Montañez

The Origin of Language and Large Language Models

October 24, 2025 | 7:00-9:00pm

Details

The Origin of Language: A Marvellous Problem

Norman Fraser

_{Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Aalborg University, Fellow of Clare Hall}

With a background in Linguistics and AI, Norman Fraser’s research interests have encompassed both descriptive and computational linguistics. He co-founded the Surrey Morphology Group, which to date has documented around 350 languages, including more than 200 endangered languages, across 100 different language families. His doctoral research focused on parsing with dependency grammars. With a parallel track as a successful IT entrepreneur, he co-founded Vocalis Group plc, the first speech and language technology company to be admitted to a stock market anywhere in the world, and developed one of the earliest voice controlled digital assistants. More recently his academic work has centred on the processes by which innovations gain legitimation in societies. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Aalborg University, and Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge.

Large Language Models, Model Collapse and the Conservation of Information

George Montañez

_{Associate Professor of Computer Science, Harvey Mudd College, Clare Hall Visiting Fellow}

George D. Montañez is an assistant professor of computer science at Harvey Mudd College and earned his PhD in machine learning from Carnegie Mellon University on the topic of why machine learning works. George has worked on problems related to computational biology, spatio-temporal learning, cross-device search, and the information properties of genetic algorithms. His current research explores why machine learning works from a search and dependence perspective, and identifies information constraints on general search processes.

Nelson and Luskin

Unexpected Genome: ORFan Genes and the End of the Junk DNA Paradigm

October 27th, 2025 | 7:00-9:00pm

Details

The Unexpected Ubiquity of ORFan Genes

With the advent of automated genome sequencing in the mid-1990s, biologists for the first time were able to look beyond the handful of gene sequences they had used since the 1950s to compare organisms. That new vista revealed a genetic and proteomic universe vastly larger than expected, and the consequences for biological theory are still not fully understood — but promise to be deeply significant.

Paul Nelson

_{Senior Research Fellow, Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute}

Paul A. Nelson is currently a Senior Fellow of Discovery Institute’s Center for Science and Culture and Adjunct Professor in the Master of Arts Program in Science & Religion at Biola University. He is a philosopher of biology who has been involved in the intelligent design debate internationally for three decades. His grandfather, Byron C. Nelson (1893-1972), a theologian and author, was an influential mid-20th century dissenter from Darwinian evolution. After Paul received his BA in philosophy with a minor in evolutionary biology from the University of Pittsburgh, he entered the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD (1998) in the philosophy of biology and evolutionary theory.

Unexpected Function of Junk DNA & the Heuristic Value of Intelligent Design

Casey Luskin

_{Research Director and Senior Fellow, Discovery Institute’s, Center for Science and Culture, Discovery Institute}

Casey Luskin is a geologist and an attorney with graduate degrees in science and law, giving him expertise in both the scientific and legal dimensions of the debate over evolution. He earned his PhD in Geology from the University of Johannesburg, and BS and MS degrees in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego, where he studied evolution extensively at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. His law degree is from the University of San Diego, where he focused his studies on First Amendment law, education law, and environmental law.

Burgess and Galloway

John Ray Lecture

November 17th, 2025 | 7:00-9:00pm

Details

Ultimate Engineering in the Human Body: A Challenge to Neo-Darwinism

Stuart Burgess

_{Professor of Engineering Design, University of Bristol, Visiting Research Fellow at Clare Hall College, Teaching Fellow at Selwyn College}

Dr Stuart Burgess has held academic posts at Bristol University (UK), Cambridge University (UK), and Liberty University (USA). He has published over 200 scientific publications on the science of design in engineering and biology. In the last three Olympics he was the lead transmission designer for the British Olympic Cycling Team, helping them on each occasion to be ranked in first place for track cycling. For the last two decades his gearboxes have been used successfully on all the large earth-observation satellites of the European Space Agency. He has received many national and international awards for design, including from the Minister of State for Trade and Industry in the UK. In 2019 he was given the top mechanical engineer award in the UK out of 120,000 professional mechanical engineers. He has been an invited speaker in over 30 countries.

Followed by a Response From

David Galloway

_{Former President, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow}

Professor David Galloway, MD DSc FRCS FRCP FACS FACP, is a surgeon based in the West of Scotland and an alumnus of the University of Glasgow. His clinical training involved working in hospitals in Glasgow, London, and New York City. His postgraduate academic work was focused on cancer research and, in particular, aspects of cell division and how it can be influenced by various environmental and dietary factors. Galloway is former President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, and an Honorary Professor of Surgery, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow.

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