Goodall draws largest-ever crowd to Gamow Lecture
Jane Goodall, the noted primatologist who upended the long-held notion that only humans used tools, addresses a packed house at the Coors Events Center on the CU-Boulder campus on Oct. 1. CU Photo by Glenn Asakawa.
A crowd of 8,700 guests gathered at CU-Boulder to hear the 50th George Gamow Memorial Lecture featuring renowned primatologist Jane Goodall. Historically hosted in Macky Auditorium, this year’s lecture was moved to the Coors Event Center after the initial ticket release sold out in minutes.
This event was a hallmark example of the reach a donor’s vision and gift can have, as all guests were able to attend the lecture free of charge thanks to the donor's generosity.
The George Gamow Memorial Lectures were initiated in 1971 by the Department of Physics and the late Barbara Gamow, wife of University of Colorado Boulder Physics Professor George Gamow, after whom the lecture series is named.
When Barbara Gamow died in 1975, she left an endowment in her will for the purpose of maintaining these free public science lectures at CU-Boulder. The 1978 lecture and all subsequent lectures have been supported by this generous bequest, illustrating that a donor’s philanthropy can truly make an impact on the greater community now and for generations to come.
Jane Goodall displays a stuffed animal she refers to as "cow," which she uses to illustrate a point about the greenhouse-gas contributions of the production of beef. CU Photo By Glenn Asakawa.
November 2015