In 2009, Year of Science participants will be celebrating science and seminal events in science, which include:
* Darwin Day — This annual international celebration will have added value in 2009 as we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th Anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species.
* The 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln (whose contributions to science include founding the National Academy of Sciences, as well as creating the Land grant system of agricultural colleges through signing the Morrill Act, which was very important to the development of applied biological sciences).
* The 400th anniversary of the publication of Johannes Kepler’s first two Laws of Planetary Motion.
* The 100th anniversary of the discovery of the Burgess Shale by the paleontologist Charles D. Walcott.
* The 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first use of a telescope to study the skies.
* The 100th anniversary of the establishment of USDA Forest Service Experimental Forest and Ranges, the largest system of dedicated experimental sites in the US.
Other community wide celebrations of science in 2009 include:
* International Year of Astronomy
* International Year of Planet Earth
