Ronald L. Numbers is *the* master historian of creationism. Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine and former chair of the department of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin -Madison, he is past president of both the History of Science Society and the American Society of Church History.

He is particularly interested in the diversity of creationist thought. Numbers writes:

"During the early decades of the twentieth century, few creationists, even among hard-shell fundamentalists, insisted on a young earth or a fossil-producing flood. Some naive readers of the Bible no doubt assumed that the date 4004 B.C. found in the margins of the first chapter referred to the original creation of the earth, but except for the Adventist disciples of Ellen G. White they almost never committed such beliefs to writing. By applying the unquestionably orthodox day-age and gap theories to Genesis 1, even the staunchest defenders of biblical inerrancy could accommodate the claims of historical geology. But by the end of the century ... the very word creationism had come to signify the recent appearance of life on earth and a geologically significant deluge."

Numbers has written/edited more than two dozen books, including, the definitive work on the history of creationism, The Creationists (1992).
Darwinism Comes to America
(1998) won the Templeton Foundation's Prize for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences as it "provides a much-needed historical perspective on today's quarrels about creationism and evolution and illuminates the specifically American nature of this struggle." Numbers joined forces with John Stenhouse in 1999 to coedit Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender.

For five years (1989-1993) Numbers edited Isis, the flagship journal of the history of science. He is writing a history of science in America (for Basic Books), editing a series of monographs on the history of medicine, science, and religion for the Johns Hopkins University Press, and coediting, with David Lindberg, the eight-volume Cambridge History of Science. A former Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the International Academy of the History of Science.


Books


The Creationists (New York: Knopf, 1992; paperback edition, University of California Press, 1993).

Darwinism Comes to America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).

Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1999), coedited with John Stenhouse.

coedited by David C. Lindberg & Ronald L. Numbers, University of Chicago Press; (2003) ISBN: 0226482146

coedited by David C. Lindberg & Ronald L. Numbers, University of California Press; (1986) ISBN: 0520056922

coedited by Ronald L. Numbers & Jonathan M. Butler, University of Tennessee Press; 2nd edition (1993)
ISBN: 0870497936  

coedited by Ronald L. Numbers & Darrel W. Amundsen, Johns Hopkins University Press; Reprint edition (1998) ISBN: 0801857961 
This event is FREE and open to the public

Alan Rocke, director
216-368-2614

Ronald L. Numbers is *the* master historian of creationism. Hilldale and William Coleman Professor of the History of Science and Medicine and former chair of the department of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin -Madison, he is past president of both the History of Science Society and the American Society of Church History.

He is particularly interested in the diversity of creationist thought. Numbers writes:

"During the early decades of the twentieth century, few creationists, even among hard-shell fundamentalists, insisted on a young earth or a fossil-producing flood. Some naive readers of the Bible no doubt assumed that the date 4004 B.C. found in the margins of the first chapter referred to the original creation of the earth, but except for the Adventist disciples of Ellen G. White they almost never committed such beliefs to writing. By applying the unquestionably orthodox day-age and gap theories to Genesis 1, even the staunchest defenders of biblical inerrancy could accommodate the claims of historical geology. But by the end of the century ... the very word creationism had come to signify the recent appearance of life on earth and a geologically significant deluge."

Numbers has written/edited more than two dozen books, including, the definitive work on the history of creationism, The Creationists (1992).
Darwinism Comes to America
(1998) won the Templeton Foundation's Prize for Outstanding Books in Theology and the Natural Sciences as it "provides a much-needed historical perspective on today's quarrels about creationism and evolution and illuminates the specifically American nature of this struggle." Numbers joined forces with John Stenhouse in 1999 to coedit Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender.

For five years (1989-1993) Numbers edited Isis, the flagship journal of the history of science. He is writing a history of science in America (for Basic Books), editing a series of monographs on the history of medicine, science, and religion for the Johns Hopkins University Press, and coediting, with David Lindberg, the eight-volume Cambridge History of Science. A former Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a member of the International Academy of the History of Science.


Books


The Creationists (New York: Knopf, 1992; paperback edition, University of California Press, 1993).

Darwinism Comes to America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1998).

Disseminating Darwinism: The Role of Place, Race, Religion, and Gender (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,1999), coedited with John Stenhouse.

coedited by David C. Lindberg & Ronald L. Numbers, University of Chicago Press; (2003) ISBN: 0226482146

coedited by David C. Lindberg & Ronald L. Numbers, University of California Press; (1986) ISBN: 0520056922

coedited by Ronald L. Numbers & Jonathan M. Butler, University of Tennessee Press; 2nd edition (1993)
ISBN: 0870497936  

coedited by Ronald L. Numbers & Darrel W. Amundsen, Johns Hopkins University Press; Reprint edition (1998) ISBN: 0801857961