Noted evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould will present a Barrick Distinguished Scholar Lecture Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in the Artemus W. Ham Concert Hall.

His lecture, titled "Thoughts on the Nature of Excellence," is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available at the Performing Arts Center Box Office beginning Oct. 7.

Gould, who has taught at Harvard University since 1967, is primarily interested in mathematical problems of growth and form applied to the evolution of lineages. At Harvard he teaches geology, biology, and the history of science.

The author of more than 200 consecutive essays for Natural History Magazine -- in the column titled "This View of Life" -- Gould is also a contributor to Discover Magazine. He served as president of the Paleontological Society and the Society for the Study of Evolution.

He was in the first group awarded the prestigious MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship. He has also received the Silver National Medal of the Zoological Society of London and the Edinburgh Medal from the city of Edinburgh.

Gould, who won the National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism in 1980, received an American Book Award for "The Panda's Thumb" and the National Book Critics' Circle Award for "The Mismeasure of Man" in 1981. Discover Magazine named him their scientist of the year in 1982. Most recently, he received the 1990 Phi Beta Kappa Award for Science.

His additional books are "Ever Since Darwin," "The Flamingo's Smile," "Hen's Teeth and Horse's Toes," "An Urchin in the Storm," "Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History," and "Bully for the Brontosaurus."

Gould's lecture coincides with the inauguration of UNLV President Carol C. Harter, scheduled earlier the same day.

For ticket information, call 895-3801.