The Fascinating World of Fungi

Dr. John Dawson

Professor Emeritus, Math Department

Pennsylvania State University, York, PA

Tuesday, February 26th, at 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.

Ruhl Student Center, Community Room

ABSTRACT:  

In the talk I will discuss what fungi are, why they are important, and what degree of risk there is in eating wild mushrooms. I will display photos of a wide variety of mushrooms that emphasize the diversity of fungal forms. I will also indicate how amateurs can contribute to the science of mycology.

Biography 

John W. Dawson, Jr. is Professor of Mathematics, Emeritus, at Penn State. Born in Wichita, Kansas, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in mathematics from M.I.T., where he was a National Merit Scholar. Six years later he received a Ph.D. in mathematical logic from the University of Michigan. His professional has research centered on the life and work of Kurt Gödel. He is co-editor-in-chief
of the journal History and Philosophy of Logic and is a member of the American Mathematical Society and the Association for Symbolic Logic.
Professor Dawson’s principal avocations are nature study and photography, as well as playing the flute and helping his wife manage their three Siberian huskies. He has been interested in mushrooms for more than thirty-five years and has given presentations and courses on mushroom collecting and identification at the Nixon County Park Nature Center each fall since1990. For the past six years he has served as president of the Eastern Penn Mushroomers, an amateur mycological society based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

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