154 years ago today, a ground breaking document was published in this country. A scientific work which instantly sold out. I am, of course, referring to On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, by Charles Darwin.
Darwin had spent five years aboard HMS Beagle in the 1830s touring the Galapagos Islands and New Zealand, studying the plants, animals and geography of the area. The things he learnt fed into this publication in which he argued that organisms gradually evolve through ‘natural selection’. Now, we are all pretty much aware of this and it’s hard to imagine that we didn’t ever think this.
Upon further reading though, it is clear that Darwin was not the first to have this revelation. His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had drawn an evolutionary diagram in the 19th Century. It’s amazing how these things run in families… oh, hang on a minute…
Clearly, Darwin’s theory goes against the biblical account of creation. He was pushed into releasing his findings after Alfred Russel Wallace published a paper that pretty much gave the game away early – a bit like all the people who reveal spoilers about a TV show before it’s been aired. Darwin and Wallace therefore jointly lectured on the topic in 1858.
Apparently, most scientists were quick to agree with Darwin’s theories. Christians weren’t so quick.
It wasn’t until 1871 though that Darwin discussed his evidence of man’s evolution from apes.
There is a movement to recognise Wallace alongside Darwin – after all, Darwin is buried at Westminster Abbey beside Kings and Queens. According to wallacefund.info:
By the time of his death Wallace was probably the world’s most famous scientist, but since then his intellectual legacy has been overshadowed by Darwin’s, largely thanks to the “Darwin Industry” of recent decades. This ‘industry’ has led to a highly “Darwinocentric” view of the history of modern biology, and as a result many of the important contributions made by Darwin’s contemporaries, like Wallace, are currently underestimated and undervalued. The Wallace Memorial Fund’s mission is to ensure that Wallace is given due credit for his many groundbreaking contributions to science. This is obviously not for his benefit (since he is dead!), but to ensure that the historical account is accurate.
Related articles
Talking Snakes? Darwinism vs Creationism | aristotleplatopaul
23rd December 2013 @ 1:45 am
[…] Day 328: It’s All About The Anniversaries (thomasjpitts.co.uk) […]