Duke in Pictures: Celebrating Noorfest

Associate chair of biology Mohamed A. F. Noor was feted Monday afternoon by a mini-symposium and reception in the Biological Sciences building to recognize him for winning the Darwin-Wallace medal for major advances in evolutionary biology. The medal has only been awarded every 50 years by the Linnean Society of London and establishes Noor as a key figure in the field.

Noor, seen here with his children Megan and Adam after the symposium, was gently roasted by his undergraduate adviser, Bruce Grant of William and Mary, his graduate adviser, Jerry Coyne of the University of Chicago, and his post-doc adviser, Chip Aquandro of Cornell University, each of whom had a surprising number of embarrassing photos of the younger Noor.

Each of the mentors noted how quickly they became aware of Noor's remarkable energy and optimism, traits which they said allowed him to leap tall questions in a single bound.

"But more than that, Mohamed is, as you know, just about the nicest human being on the planet," Grant said.

Photo by Megan Morr