![]() ![]() The newly recognized depth of geological time combined with the discovery of an ever-increasing variety of fossils turned the origin and development of life into a scientific question. Until the 19th century there were few alternatives to biblical explanations for the origin of species. In the broader cultural sphere the burial of Darwin in Westminster Abbey masked a brewing controversy that affected the traditionally close connections between science and religion. (Not until the 1930s and 1940s, with the rise of genetics, was Darwin vindicated.) Only a handful of scientists believed natural selection to be the driving force of evolution. Twenty years after Darwin’s death his theory lay on its own deathbed. The triumph of Darwin’s evolution by natural selection seems inevitable today, a good theory that defeated bad ones. ![]() All other evolutionary theories have been swept under the carpet of history. When we think of evolution, we think of Darwin. There would be no decades of focused research to follow and certainly no On the Origin of Species to shake the world in 1859.ĭarwin died a famous man. What if, he asks, Darwin had drowned in 1832 while sailing around the world on the HMS Beagle. Bowler takes an unusual approach in assessing Darwin’s impact on our world. Darwin, should be buried in Westminster Abbey.” And so he was.Īuthor Peter J. The president wrote that it would be “acceptable to a very large number of our fellow-countrymen of all classes and opinions that our illustrious countryman, Mr. On the death of Charles Darwin on April 19, 1882, the president of the Royal Society sent a telegram to the dean of Westminster Abbey asking that Darwin be buried in the place where the kings and queens of England had long been crowned and interred with pomp and circumstance. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013. Darwin Deleted: Imagining a World without Darwin. ![]()
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