MBL Falmouth Forum Season Opener: “The Amazing Life of Butterflies” – Nipam Patel, Director, Marine Biological Laboratory

For more than 30 years, the Falmouth Forum, presented by the Friends of the MBL, has brought free cultural enrichment to our community. This season will feature captivating speakers that will deliver powerful talks with a wide range of subjects.

Lectures are free and open to the public for in-person and virtual attendance. Free parking is available in any MBL lot. No registration required for in-person attendance.

Doors open at 7:00 PM, lectures start at 7:30 PM, unless noted otherwise below.

Abstract: Beauty may be “in the eye of the beholder,” but butterflies undeniably hold a wide aesthetic appeal. Dr. Patel will explore how the colors and patterns of butterflies help them survive, providing the ability to find mates, hide when necessary, and deter predators. For many butterflies and moths, there are aspects of their lives that are equally fascinating, but not very visible to us. For example, some butterflies are entirely dependent on ants to complete their life cycle. In addition to discussing these topics, there will also be an opportunity to view butterfly and moth specimens before and after the talk.

Nipam H. Patel is director of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and a professor at the University of Chicago. He joined the MBL in 2018 from the University of California, Berkeley, where he was a professor and co-chair of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology. Patel is the 20th scientist to serve as MBL director since its founding in 1888. Patel is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been awarded numerous honors, including the Schubert Endowed Chair and the William V. Power Endowed Chair at UC Berkeley, the McKnight Scholars Neuroscience Fellowship Award, and the A.O. Kowalevsky Medal and election to the Society for Developmental Biology Academy. Other past appointments include faculty curator at the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, and adjunct professor at the National Institute of Genetics in Shizuoka, Japan. The author of more than 130 scientific publications, Patel was an editor of the journal Development (2009-2018) and serves on the editorial board of several other journals in the biological sciences. He has served on numerous advisory boards, including the board of directors of the Society for Developmental Biology. Patel grew up in El Paso, Texas, and received an A.B. in Biology from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University.