Darwin Day, a celebration to commemorate Charles Darwin's birth on February 12, 1809, is celebrated to highlight Darwin's contribution to science and his theory of evolution by natural selection, and to promote science in general. This is an educational event that has taken place worldwide since the late 1990's.

This year's Darwin Day in the San Francisco Bay Area was organized by evolutionary biologist David Seaborg, the founder and President of the World Rainforest Fund, a tax-exempt, non-profit organization dedicated to saving the earth's rainforests and biodiversity. It took place on Saturday, February 8, from 1:00 to 5:00 PM, at the Art House Gallery and Cultural Center, 2905 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, 2 blocks from the Ashby BART station.

It featured David dressed as and impersonating Darwin, giving an hour-long lecture on his (Seaborg') theory that ecosystems maximize biodiversity and organisms create higher numbers of species by making the planet better for life and building symbiotic alliances between species. He was introduced as David Seaborg, explained about his impersonation of Darwin and lecture, then was introduced as Darwin. This drama-lecture was well-received and excited the audience, and was followed by a question-and- answer period. Then Seaborg showed his pet Desert Tortoise, Hognose Snake, and his fossils of ammonites, a trilobite, insects preserved in amber, and a Stegosaurus vertebra bone. He explained about all of these, and those who wanted to were allowed to hold or touch them. The audience especially loved this. A seven-minute speech was given by event sponsor Rajen Thapa, owner of Taste of the Himalayas Restaurant, on the crises of human-induced climate disruption and loss of biodiversity.

Then Randy Schekman, UC Berkeley professor and co-winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his work on the transport of chemicals in cells through vesicles, spoke on his work on cellular transport and his work to open up scientific publication. He was instrumental in stopping scientific publication from being elitist and opening it up to what is called open access. His talk was greeted enthusiastically, and many came to meet him and be photographed with him after he finished.

A reception with David Seaborg and Randy Schekman was held with those who paid for it after the event, from 5:00 to 5:45 PM, allowing attendees to talk intimately with these two stars of the day.

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