Dr. Edward Larson
Edward J. Larson is the Talmadge Chair of Law and Russell Professor of American History at the University of Georgia and recipient of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize in History. His areas of expertise are: health care law, science and technology law, bioethics, property law and legal history. He received his B.A. from Williams College, his J.D. from Harvard University, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.
An author of five books and over 60 published articles, Larson writes mostly about issues of law, science and medicine from a historical perspective. His first book, Trial and Error: The American Controversy Over Creation and Evolution (1985, expanded editions 1989 and 2002), chronicles the legal battles over teaching evolution in American public schools. His second book, Sex, Race, and Science: Eugenics in the Deep South (1995), examines the legislative history of eugenics. For his 1997 book, Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion, Larson became the first sitting law professor to receive the Pulitzer Prize in History.
His most recent publications include Evolution: The Remarkable History of Scientific Theory and a property law casebook (coauthored with Professor Jim Smith). Currently, Larson is editing a volume of Clarence Darrows writings for the Modern Library and researching a book on early American patent law.
Larson has published several law review articles, eight referred history articles and dozens of other articles, most relating to law and science or medicine. These articles have appeared in such varied journals as Nature, Atlantic Monthly, Scientific American, The Nation, Wall Street Journal, Michigan Law Review, Virginia Law Review and British Journal for the History of Science. He is the coauthor or co-editor of four additional books. The Fulbright Program named Larson to the John Adams Chair in American Studies for 2001 and he received the 2000 George Sarton Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Larson lectures and speaks on history, law and bio-science for academic, professional and public audiences. He has been invited to give endowed or funded lectures at 40 colleges and universities, including the California Institute of Technology, Harvard University and Vanderbilt University. He has given papers at over 30 academic conferences in the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia; taught in China, France, Austria and the Netherlands; and made legal and medical education presentations to professional legal, judicial and medical groups throughout America. He is frequently interviewed by broadcast and print media, including multiple appearances on major programs for PBS, the History Channel, Court TV, CNN and C-SPAN.
Before accepting a teaching position at Georgia in 1987, he served as associate counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, counsel for the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, and as an attorney with a major Seattle law firm. He received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1979 and his Ph.D. in the History of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1984.
Larson is married to pediatrician Lucy Larson. They have two children, Sarah and Luke.
Bio courtesy of the University of Georgia.