Bellevue Community College will join the worldwide commemoration of Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday Feb. 12 when it hosts a free public lecture by genomics and biotechnology pioneer Leroy Hood, Ph.D., M.D.

The event is co-sponsored by Bellevue-based Foundation For the Future, an organization dedicated to increasing and diffusing knowledge about the long-term future of humanity.

Dr. Hood’s presentation begins at 2:30 p.m. in BCC’s Carlson Theatre, located in the E Building on the college’s main campus (3000 Landerholm Circle S.E., Bellevue, at the intersection of S.E. 28th St. and 148th Ave. S.E.).

Darwin (1809-1882) laid the foundation of modern evolutionary theory in 1859 when he published his landmark book, On the Origin of Species by Mean of Natural Selection.

As the inventor of technological tools that opened up the field of molecular biology for scientific investigation, Dr. Hood has played a major role in validating Darwin’s findings.

At BCC Dr. Hood will discuss Darwin’s role in the development of modern-day scientific thought, and the modern-day expansions and ramifications of Darwin’s concepts.

He has received numerous awards for his scientific breakthroughs and is known especially for making science accessible and understandable to the general public.

Among many other awards, Dr. Hood won the 2003 Lemelson-MIT Prize, for inventing “four instruments that have unlocked much of the mystery of human biology.”

He is co-founder and president of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle.