Why Darwin Still Matters: A plea for the relevance of history in Science Education

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Why 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

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(No Transcript)
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Why 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?

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Historical 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
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The Darwin Family
Robert Waring Darwin 1766-1848

• Erasmus Darwin
• 1731-1802

Charles Catherine 1816
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The Wedgwood Family
Josiah Wedgwood 1769 - 1843

• Emma Wedgwood Darwin
• 1808 - 1896

Susannah Wedgwood Darwin 1765 - 1818
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A Middling Student
Edinburgh University

• Darwins consuming passion at Cambridge

Christ College Cambridge University
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Early Influences

• Robert Grant
• 1793 - 1874
• Edinburgh University

John Stevens Henslow 1796 - 1861 Cambrdge
University
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A Wild Scheme!
Uncomfortable accommodations

• Dr Darwins Objections as recorded by Charles

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The Voyage of the Beagle
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Patagonia Tierra del Fuego
Fuegia Basket
Jemmy Button
York Minster

• Rhea darwinii

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Concepción The Andes

• Concepción after the 1835 earthquake

Darwins sketch of the geology of the Andes
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Evolutions Workshop?

• Galapagos Islands
• September 15, 1835 -
• October 20, 1835

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To London
1837 - Notebooks on Transmutation

• Emma Charles
• January 1839
• Marriage Respectability

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This is the question
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William Annie Jenny
William Erasmus b. 1839

• Jenny the Orang
• Zoological Garden

Anne Elizabeth b. 1841
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Down House

• Darwins preferred microscope

The Study at Down
Down House Rear 1863
Family Portrait 1863
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Coral 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
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In the meanwhile

• 1842 - Short sketch of theory
• 1844 - Longer essay conversation with Emma
• 1850s - Began writing Natural Selection book

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The Origin of The Origin
Originally published November 1859

• A. R. Wallace

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Continuing 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

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The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the
action of Worms with Observations on their Habits
1881

• Perichaeta
• casting, Nice

Perichaeta casting, Calcutta
Casting, Southern India
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Burial at Westminster
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Social Matters
Nature Vol 439 26 January 2006
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Evolution Race
Wedgwood medallion ca. 1787

• Punch cartoon of Wedgwood medallion 1844

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Eugenics
Signs supplied by Eugenics Activists Eugenics
Archives, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
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American Eugenics
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Evolution and Religion
Billy Sunday preaching to a crowd of 6,000 men.
January 1908
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The Trial of the Century

• Trial of John T. Scopes
• Dayton, Tennessee 1925

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Legal History

• 1925 -- Scopes Monkey Trial
• 1968 -- Epperson v. Arkansas
• 1982 -- McClean v. Arkansas B.o.E.
• 1987 -- Edwards v. Aguillard
• 2005 -- Kitzmiller v. Dover

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PublishedMarch 20021,433 pages
Scientific Matters
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Hierarchy of Selection
GENE
CELL
ORGANISM
DEME
SPECIES
CLADE
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Gradualism 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
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Biogenetic Law

• Anthropogenie 1874

Natural History of Creation 1868
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Richardsons Redo
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Darwins 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
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Thank You