How Homo sapiens replaced Neanderthals in Europe - A public lecture by Prof. Jean-Jacques Hublin
Institutional Communication Service
22 August 2024
It has been "only" 40,000 years since a single human species existed on Earth. Before that, over the previous 7 million years, several species of hominids coexisted on the planet, each at varying levels of development. The colonisation of Europe by our sapiens ancestors serves as an example of how the ability to manage technological and social complexity is key to human evolution.
USI and the International Balzan Prize Foundation, with the patronage of the City of Lugano, have organised a public lecture by Prof. Jean-Jacques Hublin on Wednesday, 11 September at 6:15 pm in the West Campus Lugano Auditorium. The lecture will focus on the evolutionary processes that led to the emergence of our species, with a look towards the future beyond artificial intelligence and the current challenges facing Homo sapiens. The event will be moderated by RSI journalist and historian-populariser Jonas Marti.
The lecture will be introduced by the Rector of USI Luisa Lambertini, Alberto Quadrio Curzio, member of the Council of the International Balzan Foundation 'Prize' and scientific coordinator Annual Balzan Lecture, Roberto Badracco, Deputy Mayor of the city of Lugano and Laura Laera, Vice-President of the Council of the International Balzan Foundation "Prize".
Prof. Jean-Jacques Hublin
Co-founder of the European Society for the Study of Human Evolution and founder of the Department of Human Evolution at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, he is a professor at the Collège de France, holding the Chair of Palaeoanthropology. He was awarded the Balzan Prize 2023 "for the importance of his discoveries in the field, notably that of the oldest Homo sapiens in Africa; for his ability to synthesise data from cutting-edge technologies; for his skills in organising scientific teams, notably as head of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig; and for his qualities as a teacher and populariser."
For more information on the International Balzan Prize Foundation: https://www.balzan.org/it
