Darwin Day 2019

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Darwin Day 2019

Presenter(s) TBA

This will be our 2019 celebration of Charles Darwin`s theory of evolution (now more accurately thought of as the law of evolution).

Darwin's revolutionary concept of natural selection has had wide-reaching implications in many areas of human endeavour. With scientific and intellectual revolutions it's easy to lose sight of their historical precursors and original social context, that provided the template for such revolutionary ideas. This presentation explores pre-Darwinian notions of biological thought, the popular culture of natural history collecting, particularly in Victorian England, and our struggle in comprehending the antiquity of the Earth. We briefly explore a colourful interlude in history populated by mavericks, clergymen, idealists and gentlemen scientists. We'll conclude with a look at how Darwin has fundamentally changed the nature of Natural History collections, and some recent research into the effectiveness of how modern museums interpret evolution.

These talks are intended to stimulate questions and discussion inspired by these words from Darwin's book The Origin of Species, "There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.".

Charles Darwin (b. 12 Feb 1809) whose promulgation of the Theory of Evolution, or descent with modification through natural selection, has had as profound an effect on how we view and understand the natural world as any other scientific theory ever proposed.