# About Me ![Anderson Panorama](/sites/g/files/omnuum9426/files/2025-04/AB_Evans.jpg) Photo by Ryan Draft **Andrew Berry** With an undergraduate degree in zoology from Oxford and a PhD in evolutionary genetics from Princeton, I originally came to Cambridge MA as a Harvard Junior Fellow. I am currently an Assistant Head Tutor of Integrative Biology and Lecturer on Organismic & Evolutionary Biology here at Harvard. **Evolutionary Biology**: I am interested in genetic and statistical approaches to detecting adaptive evolution (instances of positive natural selection) in genomes. I am especially fascinated by islands because they are so often home to remarkable evolutionary innovations. **History of Science**: Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer with Darwin of evolution by natural selection, is a special interest of mine. In general, I am interested in the role of natural history in the development of evolutionary thinking. Here's a 2020 [interview for Current Biology](/file_url/120). And a more recent (2022) [one for The Harvard Crimson](https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/9/2/15q-andrew-berry/). **Teaching** I currently teach six courses at Harvard: **Gened 1029 What is Life?** (with Logan McCarty \[Chemistry\]). An investigation of the physico-chemical basis of living systems -- everything from quarks to consciousness. [Here](https://youtu.be/qxDFRSW7WQU) is a short trailer that showcases some of the Science-Meets-Art aspects of the course. **OEB 53 Evolutionary Biology** A mid-level course on of evolution, from the micro-evolutionary forces of population genetics to the grand sweep of the history of life. **Gened 1004 Understanding Darwinism** A joint exploration of evolutionary ideas and their historical development. [Here](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/04/gened/) is some information about the course from the Harvard Gazette. Some more Gazette coverage [here](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/09/class-of-%E2%80%9913-launches-into-gen-ed/) too. **LS 1b Genetics, Genomics & Evolution** (with Terry Capellini, Scott Edwards). First Year introductory course. **Bios S-112** & **Bios S-113** [Darwin in Oxford Harvard Summer Program](https://darwininoxford.wordpress.com/). \[Currently on hiatus\] This intensive six week summer program is based in Queen's College, Oxford. The first course is straight history of science, identifying the key factors underlying the rise of evolutionary thinking. The second retains a chronological structure and is a exploration both of the original Darwin-Wallace theory and its subsequent elaboration. Being in the UK allows us to visit many sites of historical significance to the evolution story, often with expert guidance: Jim Moore shows us around Darwin's Cambridge, and we visit Down House with Janet Browne. For photos from '19's program, see [here](https://photos.app.goo.gl/YP5BEhcC13r9uwSV6). I also teach every year at [Sabanci University](https://www.sabanciuniv.edu/en), in the world's finest city, Istanbul. I'm proud to report that Turkish creationists are [unenthusiastic](https://photos.app.goo.gl/bDgGWbXXFJtf3mWr5) about my visits. **Writing** **Books**. I have written two books (and the introduction to a third). [***Infinite Tropics***](http://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Tropics-Alfred-Wallace-Anthology/dp/1859846521/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269799182&sr=8-1) (Verso 2002; foreword by Stephen Jay Gould), a collection of the writings of Alfred Russel Wallace. Unlike many of his scientific colleagues (including Darwin), Wallace did not limit himself to writing on science, but saw his position as a public intellectual to be an opportunity to campaign on topics as diverse as votes for women (he was resolutely in favor) and conservation. The topics are disparate, but Wallace's writing is uniformly eloquent and compelling. [***DNA***](http://www.amazon.com/DNA-Secret-James-D-Watson/dp/0375710078/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269800398&sr=8-4) (with Jim Watson) (Knopf 2003; second edition 2017 \[with Kevin Davies\]) Part history, part exploration of the controversies swirling around DNA-based technologies, we wrote this to mark the 50th anniversary of the discovery by Watson & Crick of the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. [Penguin Classics Edition of Wallace's Malay Archipelago](https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/254012/the-malay-archipelago/9780141394404.html)**.** Penguin have added Wallace's best book to their *Classics* series -- Wallace's first appearance on that list. I wrote the introductory material. **Essay Reviews**. A sample of my essays. [W. D. Hamilton](/file_url/117) (*London Review of Books*); [Darwin](/file_url/119) (*London Review of Books*); [Wallace](/file_url/118) (*London Review of Books*); [The Cambrian Explosion](/file_url/103) (*Evolution;* pdf); [Neutral Evolution](/file_url/105) (*Evolution*; pdf); the [Huxleys](https://academic.oup.com/evolut/advance-article/doi/10.1093/evolut/qpae047/7632219) (*Evolution*, 2024). **Technical Writing**. I'll spare you the whole slate. Here are a few papers. *Population genetics*: selection and [clinal variation](/file_url/104) (*Genetics*; pdf); [selective sweeps](/file_url/107) on the fourth chromosome (*Genetics;* pdf) and an [update](/file_url/109) (*Science;* pdf) *Ecology*: the wonderful world of [spool-&-line](/file_url/106) tracking of mammals in New Guinea (*Journal of Mammalogy;* pdf) *History of Science*: the [Wallace-Darwin](/file_url/108) announcement of Natural Selection (*Nature;* pdf). And [here](/file_url/110) is my 2013 Comment in *Nature* to mark the 100th anniversary of Wallace's death in 1913 (*Nature;* pdf). [Here](/file_url/111) is another centennial piece on Wallace (*Current Biology*; pdf). And, to mark his [200th birthday](/file_url/121) (8 Jan 2023, *Nature*, pdf). Another 200th, Mendel's: Mendel & Darwin (with Janet Browne, [PNAS](https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2122144119) 2022) **Other...** On a climbing website you can find a sprawling, heavily illustrated, account of my mountain-mediated [homage to Darwin](http://www.summitpost.org/trip-report/665027/Evolution-Pilgrimage.html) to mark his 200th birthday. And, utterly irrelevant to evolutionary biology, a [video](https://youtu.be/D24vxhVNMgY) from a chunk of summer '23 spent in a remote part of Nepal (another one: another part of Nepal, [summer '24](https://youtu.be/2CBcajzdgWI)) **Lecturing** Here are audio and/or video links to some public talks. [Harvard Thinks Big](http://vimeo.com/10324382), Feb '10. Here's an [account](http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2010/02/harvard-thinks-big/) of the event from the Harvard Gazette. [Darwin 200](http://myweb.sabanciuniv.edu/darwin/presentations/) Celebrations in Istanbul, May '09. I'm proud to report that these and other appearances in Turkey have provoked a prominent Turkish creationist organization to dub Doug Futuyma and me "imported [American pagan priests](https://photos.app.goo.gl/bDgGWbXXFJtf3mWr5)" In 2012, Cambridge Science Festival ran a "What if...?" event in which I and a couple of others explored "alternative histories of science." Here are a [couple](http://youtu.be/ipPrzEWHVlE) of [clips](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VRBfszif3g&feature=channel&list=UL) of me on "What if Darwin hadn't gone on the voyage of the Beagle?" 2013 saw, in November, the Centenary of Wallace's death and a corresponding flurry of Wallace-related activity, including, at Harvard, an opportunity to meet the man himself (channelled by me) \[[sound only](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeSbLQayEkQ&feature=youtube_gdata), and of occasionally dubious quality\]. [Here's](http://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000002534565/the-animated-life-of-a-r-wallace.html) a lovely animation of the Wallace story created by Sharon Shattuck and Flora Lichtman for which I did some of the narration. [Here's](http://downloads.royalsociety.org/events/2013/wallace-legacy/berry.mp3) my talk at the Royal Society's Wallace symposium; here a [radio interview](http://radiowest.kuer.org/post/life-adventures-and-discoveries-r-wallace) and a [podcast](https://youtu.be/kSc1E_-hemU) + [lecture](http://vimeo.com/77615372) from a visit to the University of Alberta. And three [more lectures](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsBzkUE8xp4) from the AMNH's [Wallace Celebration](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNcODt9lelY), including one on [Wallace's biogeography](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qrlo8ZWQY0). 2014: a lecture on the current state of Darwinism at the [Ratio science festival in Sofia, Bulgaria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiCUNh8obrM) and another on Wallace at the [UCLA centennial celebration of Wallace](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WWDPk9YpVQ). And here's the talk I gave at the [Harvard Museum of Natural History](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu89twu8mZk) to mark the launch of the Penguin Classics edition of Wallace's *The Malay Archipelago*. 2017: a [lecture](https://vimeo.com/212798751) at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City 2019: [Darwin Day at MIT](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAPITTVz2fU&t=415s); a [lecture at the Linnean Society](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=772mHQ4TeY8&feature=youtu.be) (mine starts 35:45) marking the 150th anniversary of the publication of Wallace's *Malay Archipelago* 2020: I was a commentator on the Ken Burns' PBS adaptation of Siddhartha Mukherjee's *The Gene: An Intimate History.* And [here](https://youtu.be/5szLh_iIuS8) is an online Q & A for middle-schoolers run by the [BioBus](https://www.biobus.org/at-home/) 2023: a lecture at Sabanci University on [Mutation rate & life history](https://youtu.be/_kAxoQc_Dkc) 2024: [Mendel & Darwin ](https://youtu.be/t9m5989GEPg)(on the occasion of Dan Hartl receiving the Mendel Medal) 2024: Cambridge Entomological Club: [Beetles & the Discovery of Evolution](https://youtu.be/nZuwdVOyPmI) **Contact**: BioLabs 1082D, 16 Divinity Ave., Cambridge MA 02138, USA; ; +1 617 495 0684