Darwin's Birthday Thread

[hgc]

Yes, it was a mere 198 years ago today that Charles Darwin, native son of Shrewsbury, was born. Let's take this thread to celebrate the life of an extraordinary person of science!

 

[Lonewulf]

Three cheers for Darwin!

I'd give four cheers, but can't for tax reasons.

 

[fuelair]

Go, Chuck, Go!!!!!

 

[hgc]

Would anyone like to share their favorite memories of Charlie D? Since I'm pretty sure there's no one posting here who knew him or of him in his own lifetime, then I must mean your memories of learning something new about him or his work.

Where were you when you first heard the name HMS Beagle?

What did you have for lunch the day you found out about the Galapagos finches?

Do you favor Wedgewood china because of the family connection?

 

[rebecca]

Would anyone like to share their favorite memories of Charlie D?

I was at a bar once when a man stumbled over and told me I must be genetically fit since he wanted to "sexually select (me) ... all night long." He then ordered a Lemon Drop and asked me if I wanted to "take a trip on (his) Beagle."

That man's name? Charles Darwin.



Or at least, that's what he said his name was. When I rifled through his wallet later, his license said "Al Wallace" so I'm not sure.

 

[sackett]

What tickles me most about Charlie D is that he came to look exactly like the popular image of a caveman.

 

[brodski]

Ok, some trivia related to Darwin.

Darwin did not join the HMS beagle as the ships naturalist, rather he was employed to provide appropriate dinner company and gentlemanly conversation to the ships captain Robert Fitzroy.
Fitzroy was paranoid about depression and suicide, after his uncle Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry- usually known as Viscount Castlereagh- had committed suicide. (prompting Lord Byron to pen what is probably the most insulting- but humorous - epitaph ever

Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.

in revenge for Castlereagh’s role in the Peterloo massacre)
However, as good a naturalist as Darwin was, he wasn’t up to the task of providing conversation to Fitzroy, the two had a falling opt during the early part of the voyage over (IIRC) the nature of sin, they stopped dining together on eth beagle after that, and only spoke rarely.

Fitzroy was wracked with guilt over the fact that Darwin based much of Origin of Species on the research he undertook whilst on the Beagle, and towards eth end of his life (after retiring as Governor of New Zealand) he began to make public protests against the theory of evolution, most of which amounted to holding up the bible in public and shouting “thus is the truth”. It is claimed that guilt over inadvertently contributing to Origin of Species contributed to Fitzroy’s eventual suicide, (which he committed in a manner very similar to his uncle). In conclusion, Darwin was a great naturalist and biologist, but not such a good mental health support worker.

Happy birthday Charley boy!

 

[hgc]

Ok, some trivia related to Darwin.

Darwin did not join the HMS beagle as the ships naturalist, rather he was employed to provide appropriate dinner company and gentlemanly conversation to the ships captain Robert Fitzroy.
...
Happy birthday Charley boy!

Thanks for that excellent story. In honor of Charlie's birthday, here's a picture of the Beagle captain.

 

[CACTUSJACKmankin]

Charles Darwin: the codiscoverer of natural selection and one of the most important scientists in history. What's amazing is that when one reads Origins today, one realizes how much he got right.

 

[logical muse]

Would anyone like to share their favorite memories of Charlie D? Since I'm pretty sure there's no one posting here who knew him or of him in his own lifetime, then I must mean your memories of learning something new about him or his work.

Where were you when you first heard the name HMS Beagle?

What did you have for lunch the day you found out about the Galapagos finches?

Do you favor Wedgewood china because of the family connection?

Well it started a long time ago, but it went something like this:

I broke a toy boat, so I pulled it apart and fixed it.
Enjoying that activity so much, I began breaking other things just so that I could then fix them.
After a while, I began building things, which is like fixing things that aren't broken yet.
I began building electronic things.
I built a computer. (I mean, I built it, from a bag of capacitors, resistors, transistors, integrated circuits, etc)
I learnt to program.
I discovered Conway's Game of Life. (see my avatar)
Whilst CGoL was not strictly about evolution, it led me to think about it, and seek out information.
I discovered Richard Dawkins' Animorphs.
I read On the Origin of Species and wished my brain wasn't so addled by years of drug and alcohol addiction so that I could go back to school, get a PhD, and learn about biology and evolution.
I wrote software for evolving computer programs.
I made this: http://www.notjustatheory.com/

 

[brodski]

Thanks for that excellent story. In honor of Charlie's birthday, here's a picture of the Beagle captain.

[qimg]http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/imagehosting/54345d0dad5a0a33.bmp[/qimg]

Thanks, i should add, that although my previous post cast Fitzroy in a bad light, Fitzroy was himself a pioneer of science- specifically Meteorology. To honour this, a UK shipping forecast sea area has been named after him.
I could try to explain the cultural importance of the Shipping Forecast, but I don't think I'd do it justice- it's an almost spiritual thing.

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Happy birthday, Chuck! Without you we would not have the delight of debating annoying creationists.

~~ Paul

 

[Foster Zygote]

Ok, some trivia related to Darwin.

Darwin did not join the HMS beagle as the ships naturalist, rather he was employed to provide appropriate dinner company and gentlemanly conversation to the ships captain Robert Fitzroy.
Fitzroy was paranoid about depression and suicide, after his uncle Robert Stewart, 2nd Marquess of Londonderry- usually known as Viscount Castlereagh- had committed suicide. (prompting Lord Byron to pen what is probably the most insulting- but humorous - epitaph ever

Posterity will ne'er survey
A nobler grave than this:
Here lie the bones of Castlereagh:
Stop, traveller, and piss.

in revenge for Castlereagh’s role in the Peterloo massacre)
However, as good a naturalist as Darwin was, he wasn’t up to the task of providing conversation to Fitzroy, the two had a falling opt during the early part of the voyage over (IIRC) the nature of sin, they stopped dining together on eth beagle after that, and only spoke rarely.

Fitzroy was wracked with guilt over the fact that Darwin based much of Origin of Species on the research he undertook whilst on the Beagle, and towards eth end of his life (after retiring as Governor of New Zealand) he began to make public protests against the theory of evolution, most of which amounted to holding up the bible in public and shouting “thus is the truth”. It is claimed that guilt over inadvertently contributing to Origin of Species contributed to Fitzroy’s eventual suicide, (which he committed in a manner very similar to his uncle). In conclusion, Darwin was a great naturalist and biologist, but not such a good mental health support worker.

Happy birthday Charley boy!

I once heard someone mention the fact of Fitzroy's suicide as though it were an indictment of Darwin. I pointed out that there'd been a history of suicide in Fitzroy's family and that the fact that he so worried about it was evidence that he'd probably had suicidal thoughts of his own. The poor man may have suffered from depression for much of his life. I stated that it was hardly fair to blame Darwin for Fitzroy's mental frailty.

 

[brodski]

I once heard someone mention the fact of Fitzroy's suicide as though it were an indictment of Darwin. I pointed out that there'd been a history of suicide in Fitzroy's family and that the fact that he so worried about it was evidence that he'd probably had suicidal thoughts of his own. The poor man may have suffered from depression for much of his life. I stated that it was hardly fair to blame Darwin for Fitzroy's mental frailty.

Well it is an indictment of Darwin, as he was hired specifically[/i ] to help prevent Fitzroy's suicide. The fact that Fitzroy committed suicide 29 years after the two parted company mitigates this criticism somewhat.