A Series of Fortunate Events
Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life, and You
Lavin Exclusive Speaker
Sean B. Carroll is one of the most masterful science storytellers of our time. An internationally recognized Evolutionary Biologist and award-winning writer, film producer, and educator, he is a thrilling speaker and renowned scientist. Author of the hotly-anticipated new book A Series of Fortunate Events: Chance and the Making of the Planet, Life and You, Carroll explores the awe-inspiring science behind the power of chance in our lives and the world.
Carroll is the author of numerous groundbreaking books including A Series of Fortunate Events (forthcoming), The Serengeti Rules, and Brave Genius, among others. Several of his books have been adapted to film, including Endless Forms Most Beautiful and The Making of the Fittest which were the basis for a NOVA special broadcast. His tale of Henry Walter Bates’ exploration of the Amazon was the inspiration for the IMAX film Amazon Adventure, and The Serengeti Rules was the basis for a critically-acclaimed theatrical film released in 2019 (broadcast on PBS Nature). In 2016, Carroll received the Lewis Thomas Prize for Writing about Science.
Carroll’s pioneering scientific research has centered on the genes that control animal body patterns and play major roles in the evolution of animal diversity. He has received the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Sciences, been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the European Molecular Biology Organization, as well as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
For his educational efforts, he has received the Stephen Jay Gould Prize for the advancement of the public understanding of evolution, the Viktor Hamburger Outstanding Educator Award from the Society for Developmental Biology, and the Distinguished Service Award of the National Association of Biology Teachers. Carroll is currently Vice President for Science Education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the largest private supporter of science education activities in the United State, Head of HHMI’s Tangled Bank Studios, and Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Maryland.