On March 5, 2022, the Pioneer Valley Microbiology Symposium celebrated Lynn Margulis on what would have been her 84^th birthday with a screening of an excerpt from Symbiotic Earth. The Symposium was hosted by UMass Amherst College of Natural Sciences. This was the first on-campus celebration of Margulis who was a Professor of Geoscience at the university from 1988 – 2011and one of the most consequential scientists of the late 20th-century.

The film was introduced by Emily Case, (M.Ed. Science) Teacher and Middle School Team Leader at Smith Academy, Hatfield MA and an alumna of the Margulis Lab. It was well received by an audience of mostly undergraduate and graduate students.

After the screening, there was time for a few questions. Someone asked if evolution by symbiosis conflicted with Darwin’s theories, and Emily responded that there was no conflict and that Margulis was a Darwinian. Another person asked why Margulis kept pushing the spirochete/undulipodia hypothesis when evidence to date doesn’t show support for a spirochete origin for undulipodia. Margulis continued work on her hypothesis because she thought it was right.

A few of the participants sought out Emily afterwards to talk about how Lynn Margulis’ work inspired them – one young woman was at UMass studying microbiology specifically because of Margulis.

Many thanks to Dr. Irene Lepori for her suggestion to recognize Lynn Margulis on her birthday with a clip from Symbiotic Earth.

Photo: Lynn Margulis mixes it up with other Linnean Society Fellows at a 2008 meeting on Symbiosis at the Society in Burlington House, London, UK.