Hail Darwin!
This year we are celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin, the author of the seminal work "The origin of species," published in 1859. In this book Darwin, after collecting material and considering the subject for 20 years, finally published his theories based on his experience as a young naturalist during the famous voyage of the Beagle (1831-6) and particularly his visit to the Galapagos Islands.
It is important to distinguish the process of biological evolution that Darwin described in great detail, from Darwin's theory of how that process occured. Note it is not his theory of whether or not evolution has occured, but rather his theory of how it occured. This should be a clarification for all those who dispute the fact of biological evolution when they refer to it as a "theory." Evolution is a process, that can occur in any context, for example an individual evolves in stages from a fertilized ovum, to a foetus, an embryo, a baby, a child and an adult. What needs to be explained is how this process of maturation occurs. Similarly, if you pick up a rounded stone on the beach, intuition immediately tells you that it has been smoothed by the action of the sea and the waves. It is obvious that it did not start as a smooth rounded stone, but very slowly has been rendered that way by natural processes. So with biological evolution.
Darwin postulated the "survival of the fittest," that over long periods of time, in fact millions of years, variation in individuals has produced the multiplicity of species that we see in the world today. The idea that they were all produced by God several thousand years ago and that they have remained essentially the same ever since is unsupportable by any intelligent, informed person. However, Darwin could not explain exactly how such evolution occured, since he knew nothing about genetics and of DNA that underlies it.
The discovery of the structure of DNA and it's crucial role in genetics was not to be revealed for another hundred years after his publication (in fact in 1953 by Watson and Crick). What is most important, and not realized by many, is that the discovery of DNA and the elucidation of its role in biological evolution has totally supported Darwin's view of evolution. The area of molecular genetics using DNA analysis (just as it is used for crime solving) is as important today in revealing the relationships of species as are the older methods of paelontology using bones.
Another often unremarked fact is that Darwin was not alone in describing biological evolution from observation of different species, but Alfred Russel Wallace, a botanist who had travelled extensively in the Amazon region and in Malaya had come to the same conclusions. In fact, it was a letter written by Wallace to Darwin in 1857 that finally caused Darwin to publish his book, for fear of being "scooped."
The importance of Charles Darwin was that his observations and description of biological evolution provided a scientific alternative to religious opinions based entirely on faith, and led to a revolution in secular thought that transformed Western civilization from being predominantly Christian to being predominantly secular.
It is important to distinguish the process of biological evolution that Darwin described in great detail, from Darwin's theory of how that process occured. Note it is not his theory of whether or not evolution has occured, but rather his theory of how it occured. This should be a clarification for all those who dispute the fact of biological evolution when they refer to it as a "theory." Evolution is a process, that can occur in any context, for example an individual evolves in stages from a fertilized ovum, to a foetus, an embryo, a baby, a child and an adult. What needs to be explained is how this process of maturation occurs. Similarly, if you pick up a rounded stone on the beach, intuition immediately tells you that it has been smoothed by the action of the sea and the waves. It is obvious that it did not start as a smooth rounded stone, but very slowly has been rendered that way by natural processes. So with biological evolution.
Darwin postulated the "survival of the fittest," that over long periods of time, in fact millions of years, variation in individuals has produced the multiplicity of species that we see in the world today. The idea that they were all produced by God several thousand years ago and that they have remained essentially the same ever since is unsupportable by any intelligent, informed person. However, Darwin could not explain exactly how such evolution occured, since he knew nothing about genetics and of DNA that underlies it.
The discovery of the structure of DNA and it's crucial role in genetics was not to be revealed for another hundred years after his publication (in fact in 1953 by Watson and Crick). What is most important, and not realized by many, is that the discovery of DNA and the elucidation of its role in biological evolution has totally supported Darwin's view of evolution. The area of molecular genetics using DNA analysis (just as it is used for crime solving) is as important today in revealing the relationships of species as are the older methods of paelontology using bones.
Another often unremarked fact is that Darwin was not alone in describing biological evolution from observation of different species, but Alfred Russel Wallace, a botanist who had travelled extensively in the Amazon region and in Malaya had come to the same conclusions. In fact, it was a letter written by Wallace to Darwin in 1857 that finally caused Darwin to publish his book, for fear of being "scooped."
The importance of Charles Darwin was that his observations and description of biological evolution provided a scientific alternative to religious opinions based entirely on faith, and led to a revolution in secular thought that transformed Western civilization from being predominantly Christian to being predominantly secular.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:01 PM
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