“History suggests that a nation that relinquishes the torch of science puts its future prosperity at risk and jeopardizes its place in the history of civilization. The [National Science] Board believes that we must not let this fate befall our country”. — National Science Board (NSB) 2020 Vision for the National Science Foundation,
December 28, 2005

In 2008-2009, The Ohio State University, in partnership with other higher education institutions and community organizations, hosts a celebration of science to highlight the importance of evolutionary studies to our understanding of the history of our planet, to the health of humans, and to the future of the biosphere that is confronted with unprecedented global climatic change.

2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection. In addition, 2009 celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln (who was responsible for founding the National Academy of Sciences), the 400th anniversary of the publication of Johannes Kepler’s first two Laws of Planetary Motion, the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Burgess Shale by the paleontologist Charles D. Walcott, the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of a telescope to study the skies, and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of USDA Forest Service Experimental Forest and Ranges, the largest system of dedicated experimental sites in the US.