Title: Why Darwin Still Matters: A plea for the relevance of history in Science Education
1Why Darwin Still MattersA plea for the
relevance of history in Science Education
- Mark E. Borrello
- Program in History of Science Technology
Medicine - Dept of Ecology, Evolution Behavior
- Minnesota Science Teachers Association
- Spring Meeting Rochester, MN 2009
2(No Transcript)
3Why Darwin?
- What is it about evolution that keeps people
talking? - What does Charles Darwin have to do with
contemporary theory? - Where did he fit in 19th century science?
4Historical Matters
- What was it that Darwin said?
- Why is it important to get it right?
- How does his life and work influence contemporary
biology?
Darwin and Tommy late 1870s
5The Darwin Family
Robert Waring Darwin 1766-1848
Charles Catherine 1816
6The Wedgwood Family
Josiah Wedgwood 1769 - 1843
- Emma Wedgwood Darwin
- 1808 - 1896
Susannah Wedgwood Darwin 1765 - 1818
7A Middling Student
Edinburgh University
- Darwins consuming passion at Cambridge
Christ College Cambridge University
8Early Influences
- Robert Grant
- 1793 - 1874
- Edinburgh University
John Stevens Henslow 1796 - 1861 Cambrdge
University
9A Wild Scheme!
Uncomfortable accommodations
- Dr Darwins Objections as recorded by Charles
10The Voyage of the Beagle
11Patagonia Tierra del Fuego
Fuegia Basket
Jemmy Button
York Minster
12Concepción The Andes
- Concepción after the 1835 earthquake
Darwins sketch of the geology of the Andes
13Evolutions Workshop?
- Galapagos Islands
- September 15, 1835 -
- October 20, 1835
14To London
1837 - Notebooks on Transmutation
- Emma Charles
- January 1839
- Marriage Respectability
15This is the question
16William Annie Jenny
William Erasmus b. 1839
- Jenny the Orang
- Zoological Garden
Anne Elizabeth b. 1841
17Down House
- Darwins preferred microscope
The Study at Down
Down House Rear 1863
Family Portrait 1863
18Coral Reefs Barnacles
On the Distribution of Coral Reefs 1842
- A monograph on the fossil Lepadidae, or,
pedunculated Cirripedes of Great Britain (1851)
http//darwin-online.org.uk/graphics/Living_Cirrip
edia_illustrations.html
Beagle notes on reef formation
19In the meanwhile
- 1842 - Short sketch of theory
- 1844 - Longer essay conversation with Emma
- 1850s - Began writing Natural Selection book
20 The Origin of The Origin
Originally published November 1859
21Continuing to Work
- On the various contrivances by which British and
foreign orchids are fertilised by insects 1862 - The variation of animals and plants under
domestication 1868 - The descent of man and selection in relation to
sex 1871 - The expression of the emotions in man and
animals 1872 - The movements and habits of climbing plants 1875
- Insectivorous plants 1875
22The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the
action of Worms with Observations on their Habits
1881
Perichaeta casting, Calcutta
Casting, Southern India
23Burial at Westminster
24Social Matters
Nature Vol 439 26 January 2006
25Evolution Race
Wedgwood medallion ca. 1787
- Punch cartoon of Wedgwood medallion 1844
26Eugenics
Signs supplied by Eugenics Activists Eugenics
Archives, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
27American Eugenics
28Evolution and Religion
Billy Sunday preaching to a crowd of 6,000 men.
January 1908
29The Trial of the Century
- Trial of John T. Scopes
- Dayton, Tennessee 1925
30Legal History
- 1925 -- Scopes Monkey Trial
- 1968 -- Epperson v. Arkansas
- 1982 -- McClean v. Arkansas B.o.E.
- 1987 -- Edwards v. Aguillard
- 2005 -- Kitzmiller v. Dover
31PublishedMarch 20021,433 pages
Scientific Matters
32Hierarchy of Selection
GENE
CELL
ORGANISM
DEME
SPECIES
CLADE
33Gradualism or Punk Eke?
Science progresses more by the introduction of
new world views or pictures than by the steady
accumulation of information Eldredge and Gould
Punctuated Equilibria 1972
34Biogenetic Law
Natural History of Creation 1868
35Richardsons Redo
36Darwins Pluralism
I believe in no fixed law of development, causing
all the inhabitants of a country to change
abruptly, or simultaneously, or to an equal
degreeThe variability of each species is quite
independent of that of all others. Whether such
variability be taken advantage of by natural
selection, and whether the variations be
accumulated to a greater or lesser amount, thus
causing greater or lesser amount of
modificationdepends on many complex
contingencies -- on the variability being of a
beneficial nature, on the power of intercrossing,
on the rate of breeding, on the slowly changing
physical conditions of the country, and more
especially on the nature of the other inhabitants
with which the varying species come into
contact. Darwin On the Origin of Species 1859
37Thank You