2016_02_12_CIE_darwin

The Science Museum of the University of Navarra celebrates World Darwin Day, a worldwide commemoration of the birth date of the father of the Theory of Evolution, February 12, 1809.

On this occasion, the Museum of the academic center has prepared the informative video"Darwin in the Science Museum", at position of the professor of Evolution Javier Novo. In it, the expert and popularizer explains the basics of the scientist's most famous theory through different pieces of the Museum.

Composed of more than two million specimens, the Science Museum of the University of Navarra is considered one of the most extensive collections in Spain, after those of the National Museum of Natural Sciences of the CSIC. one of the most extensive collections in Spain, after those of the National Museum of Natural Sciences of the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council).. Its pieces have been compiled in the course of research by the center's scientists -initiated by Prof. Rafael Jordana. Rafael Jordana- and from various private collections that have been received over the last 50 years. This is the case of the mollusk collection of the architect José del Río. José del RíoThis is the case of the mollusk collection of the architect José del Río, consisting of 4,000 different species of limpets, barrels, Venus combs, solaria or harps, and 180 species of cones, making it one of the most complete mollusk collections of its kind in Spain.

7,000 pieces in 90 showcases

The Science Museum of the University of Navarra is a museum that educates, researches and teaches. Of the total number of pieces that make up the Museum, some 7,000 are on display at Sciences Building, distributed in 90 showcases throughout the six floors of Hexagon Building, where they remain open to the general public and students. An important part of them comes from the collection of the high school de los Capuchinos de Lecároz and is made up of mammals, birds and small vertebrates and invertebrates. It also includes specimens of exotic birds -such as birds of paradise or cockatoos from Surinam-, showcases themed to show the different morphology of the skulls of mammals, the domestication of some species, snakes or the most representative fauna of Navarre.

Likewise, the Museum's storage room - where most of the collections of research are kept in adequate temperature and humidity conditions - houses the old collection of tropical butterflies of Gómez Bustillo, a world authority on the subject specialization program, which today would be difficult to obtain. Most of the specimens come from the Far East, Africa and South America.

In the opinion of the director of the Science Museum of the University of Navarra, Prof. Arturo Ariño, knowledge dissemination actions such as the one carried out on the occasion of Darwin's anniversary "serve fundamentally to show society the role of science and the critical importance of scientific Education and research in the progress of Humanity". In this sense, the University of Navarra, through its Science Museum, aims to transmit the inescapable need for the human development defense of biodiversity and nature conservation, as well as to promote the Education, the research and the communication and knowledge dissemination of science as one of its objectives in the project Horizon 2020.