Startling Neanderthal find

Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, and an international team of scientists have documented that Neandertals roamed central Europe as recently as 28,000 years ago -- the latest date ever recorded for Neandertal fossils worldwide.

The team's findings, published in the Oct. 26 issue of the prestigious journal "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS), could force other scientists to rethink theories of Neandertal extinction, intelligence and contributions to the human gene pool.

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Rare Mozart, Beethoven works acquired by library

A rare collection of first and early printed editions of music by Mozart and Beethoven has been acquired by the University's Gaylord Music Library. An exhibition, which runs through Jan. 7, and a recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 29, mark the acquisition.

"This is a tremendous acquisition -- the kind that has 1,001 uses," said Brad Short, music librarian. "It will continue to be exceedingly important for scholarly research as well as practical uses."

The rare printed scores are invaluable for those interested in music source studies, music printing and the way music was published and distributed.

"Washington University is proud to be a central location for the pursuit of Mozart and Beethoven research in the coming years," said Hugh Macdonald, Ph.D., the Avis Blewett Professor of Music and chair of the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences.

Alan Tyson, an eminent British musicologist known for his study of watermarks and of the compositional practices of the two Viennese composers, assembled the collection. The University purchased it from him.

"This is the first time in more than two decades that the Gaylord Music Library has made a purchase of this magnitude," said Nathan Eakin, library associate for reference and special collections.

Though all of the Mozart scores in the collection were published posthumously, many are nevertheless first editions, because much of the composer's work went unpublished during his lifetime.

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Fields named to new chair

Wayne Fields, Ph.D., professor of English and director of the American Culture Studies Program in Arts & Sciences, has been named the first holder of the Lynne Cooper Harvey Distinguished Chair in English, according to an announcement by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Edward S. Macias, Ph.D., executive vice chancellor and dean of Arts & Sciences. A formal installation ceremony will take place Dec. 2 in Holmes Lounge.

"We are very grateful for the generous gift that makes this distinguished professorship possible," Wrighton said. "Professor Fields is an outstanding academic leader in our American Culture Studies Program, and we are pleased he will be the inaugural holder of the Harvey Chair."

The Harvey Chair was established in 1998 by a gift from alumnus Lynne "Angel" Cooper Harvey.

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Course explores "the history of everything"

Sixty undergraduate students at Washington University will have the chance next spring to study evolution from multiple perspectives when they embark on "The Epic of Evolution."

Team-taught by three scientists in different disciplines, the 200-level course is cross-listed under biology, physics and earth and planetary sciences. Professors are Claude W. Bernard, Ph.D., professor of physics; Ursula W. Goodenough, Ph.D., professor of biology; and Michael E. Wysession, Ph.D., associate professor of earth and planetary sciences.

Bernard brings his expertise in physics, Goodenough her insight into cell and molecular biology and Wysession his knowledge of geophysics to the course. The idea is for students to contemplate the wide arch of evolution from the "Big Bang" and the subsequent expansion of the universe to the origins and progression of life on Earth.

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