Posted on January 9, 2002 at 3:15 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — A Pulitzer Prize-winning author and scientist will receive the 2002 Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar Award from UAB. The prize carries an honorarium provided through an endowment established by Caroline and Charles Ireland.

Dr. Jared Diamond, professor of physiology at the UCLA School of Medicine, will present a public lecture, "Guns, Germs, and Steel" at 5:30 p.m., January 29 in the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center. Diamond won the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction for his book of the same title. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Diamond's formal training is in the area of physiology and membrane biophysics. At the same time, he has pursued a career in ecology and evolutionary biology, based on an on-going series of expeditions (19 to date) to study the birds of New Guinea and other tropical Southwest Pacific islands. From this research, Diamond has written a series of papers on the paradoxical evolution of human genetic diseases such as Tay-Sachs and diabetes.

Diamond's public lecture will focus on the evolution of human societies over the last 13,000 years. Based on his book Guns, Germs, and Steel, Diamond asks and answers the question: "Why did Europeans and Asians conquer the indigenous peoples of Africa, the New World, Australia and the South Pacific, instead of being conquered themselves?"

In recent years, Diamond has focused on practical ways to stem the disappearance of the world's biodiversity. He has designed comprehensive national park plans for the governments of Indonesian New Guinea, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

For his cumulative contributions to science, Diamond received the National Medal of Science in 1999. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a past recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Genius Award. He also has been recognized with research prizes from the American Gastroenterological Association, American Ornithologists' Union, and the Zoological Society of San Diego.

Diamond is the author of seven books and more than 557 articles. He is a contributing editor to Discover Magazine.

As the Ireland Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Diamond will visit the UAB campus January 29-30. The Ireland Prize brings internationally renowned scholars in the arts and sciences to UAB to present a public lecture, attend a dinner in their honor and participate in campus activities.