The Department of Soil Science welcomes Dan Egan as the invited speaker for the Bockheim Distinguished Lecture in Soil Science. Egan is the author of “The Devil’s Element” and the New York Times bestseller (and UW’s 2018-19 Go Big Read selection), “The Death and Life of the Great Lakes.”

Egan’s talk will focus on the historical use of phosphorus fertilizers, from animal waste to bones to guano to our increasingly scarce phosphate rock deposits. Attendees can expect a lively discussion about the benefits and consequences of the chemical fertilizer era.

“The Devil’s Element: Phosphorus and a world out of balance”
Wednesday, October 18 at 3:30 pm in 270 Soils Building
Reception immediately following the presentation in the Jackson-Tanner Commons (third floor Soils Bldg.)

A journalist in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, Egan is a two-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with his wife and children.

Contact Doug Soldat at djsoldat@wisc.edu for more information.