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Therefore choose life : the CBC Massey lectures / George Wald.

by Wald, George, 1906-1997.

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House of Anansi Press, 2017.

Science -- Social aspects.

Science -- Moral and ethical aspects.

Science -- Philosophy.

Religion and science.

Massey lectures series.

Click here to listen to "Therefore Choose Life" by George Wald, from CBC Radio.

9781487003203 (pbk.)

Alternate title:

CBC Massey lectures. Therefore choose life

xxiii, 131 pages ; 21 cm.

Includes index.

'All men, everywhere, have asked the same questions: Whence we come, what kind of thing we are, and at least some intimation of what may become of us. ' So begins Nobel Prize-winning scientist George Wald's 1970 Massey Lectures, now in print for the first time. Where did we come from, who are we, and what is to become of us - these questions have never been more urgent. Then, as now, the world is facing major political and social upheaval, from overpopulation to nuclear warfare to environmental degradation and the uses and abuses of technology. Using scientific fact as metaphor, Wald meditates on our place, and role, on Earth and in the universe. He urges us to therefore choose life - to invest in our capabilities as human beings, to heed the warnings of our own self-destruction, and above all to honour our humanity. George David Wald (1906 - 1997) was an American scientist, best known for his work with pigments in the retina. He won a share of the 1967 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Haldan Keffer Hartline and Ragnar Granit. As a postdoctoral researcher, Wald discovered that vitamin A was a component of the retina. His further experiments showed that when the pigment rhodopsin was exposed to light, it yielded the protein opsin and a compound containing vitamin A. This suggested that vitamin A was essential in retinal function. In 1970, Wald predicted that 'civilization will end within 15 or 30 years unless immediate action is taken against problems facing mankind.'

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

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