Charles Darwin on the family tree of languages

Today's Guardian has a lovely diagram illustrating the Indo-European and Uralic family trees:

Language family trees

Charles Darwin loved to hypothesise. In chapter 13 of ‘On the Origin of Species’, using the classification of languages as an analogy to the classification of species, he hypothesises that the family tree of languages must closely reflect the family tree of the different races of mankind that speak them:

If we possessed a perfect pedigree of mankind, a genealogical arrangement of the races of man would afford the best classification of the various languages now spoken throughout the world; and if all extinct languages, and all intermediate and slowly changing dialects, had to be included, such an arrangement would, I think, be the only possible one. Yet it might be that some very ancient language had altered little, and had given rise to few new languages, whilst others (owing to the spreading and subsequent isolation and states of civilisation of the several races, descended from a common race) had altered much, and had given rise to many new languages and dialects. The various degrees of difference in the languages from the same stock, would have to be expressed by groups subordinate to groups; but the proper or even only possible arrangement would still be genealogical; and this would be strictly natural, as it would connect together all languages, extinct and modern, by the closest affinities, and would give the filiation and origin of each tongue.

As usual, Darwin is pretty much on the ball. The family tree of languages does indeed closely reflect human history, albeit with one or two anomalies. For example, nobody seems to have a blind clue where the Basque language fits in.

New book review

Over in the Reviews section, there's a new book review of:

A Buzz in the Meadow
by Dave Goulson

Darwin & Fitzroy play, Reading

Darwin & Fitzroy play posterDarwin groupies in or near Reading in Berkshire this coming week might like to check out the new play, Darwin & Fitzroy, by Juliet Aykroyd. As the promotional material explains:

Set during the voyage of the Beagle and in later years, Darwin & FitzRoy plots the friendship and tension between Charles Darwin and the Beagle's captain, Robert Fitzroy. Both men of science and men of faith, Juliet Aykroyd's witty and poignant play charts the relationship between two giants of modern science on their celebrated voyage around the world, and catalogues the demons besetting both.

Uniquely, every performance of this play will be preceded by an event exploring Fitzroy's life, life scientific under sail, the music inspired by the Sea and the use of old ship's logs in modern climate research. Accompanying the play and the events will be an exhibition of weather-inspired art by two Reading artists, Julia Rogers and Roxana Tohaneanu-Shields.

I have it on good authority that beards will be involved. Excellent news! You can never have too many beards. But I guess I'm biased.

PZ Myers in God's Own County

The Friends of Charles Darwin's home town was Pharyngulated last night, when PZ Myers paid a visit to Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire.

PZ Myers talking at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club, 12-Aug-2014.

The godless liberal, internationally renowned science blogger, and author of the Happy Atheist was in town at the invitation of the Friends of Charles Darwin and the Hebden Bridge Literary and Scientific Society to talk at the legendary Hebden Bridge Trades Club on ‘When Science Education Goes Wrong’.

PZ Myers talking at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club, Aug 2014.

PZ gave a typically entertaining talk, explaining how the creationism that plagues the USA and elsewhere today, far from being an ancient phenomenon, is a mid-20th-century American invention. He described creationists' often hopelessly inept attempts to pervert science, but went on to warn the audience of the dangers of letting them get away with it.

The poster.

The talk was followed by an insightful question and answer session, and a beer or two.

PZ Myers, FCD, Maureen Brian, FCD, & Richard Carter, FCD. Hebden Bridge Trades Club, 12-Aug-2014.

Thanks once again to Maureen Brian for seizing the opportunity of PZ's recent talk in Oxford to get him to come and visit more civilised parts.

Earlier in the day, PZ visited a local example of his favourite kind of church.

Links:

PZ Myers goes to church

Spotted in Hebden Bridge yesterday…

PZ Myers goes to church

PZ Myers IN A CHURCH, accompanied by Maureen Brian.

No lightning bolts were forthcoming.

New book review

Over in our Reviews section, there is a new book review of:

Darwin's On the Origin of Species: a Modern Rendition
by Daniel Duzdevich

Golf: the Darwin connection

The 143rd Open Championship teed-off at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Hoylake, on my native Wirral peninsula this morning.

Ever since I was a young kid, whenever the Open Championship is played in the North West of England, I have attended one of the practice days with my dad, a golf fanatic.

Dad and I were there again earlier this week. I'll spare you the details, but I've posted a large number of photos on Flickr, if you're interested.

Why am I talking about the Open Championship at Hoylake on a blog that's supposed to be about Charles Darwin? Well, because, as we all know by now, absolutely everything has a Charles Darwin connection…

Spotted in the tented village above a display of hickory-shafted golf clubs at Hoylake this Tuesday:

Quote from Bernard Darwin, British Open 2014, Hoylake

The Bernard Darwin quoted was a famous golfer and Times sportswriter, who became Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1934 (the year before my dad was born). Bernard Darwin was the grandson of Charles Darwin, who referred to him as ‘Dubba’ when he was an infant. (Rather pleasingly, one of the players in contention at the Open this week goes by the name of Bubba.)

Indeed, so famous was Bernard Darwin in his day that my dad, who feels the same way about golf as I do about Charles Darwin, still often absent-mindedly refers to Charles Darwin as ‘Bernard Darwin’.

Like I said, everything has a Charles Darwin connection.

Nigel Longhurst (1954–2014)

Nigel Longhurst

Nigel ‘Fitz’ Longhurst, FCD

I am sad to report that my good friend and Friends of Charles Darwin co-founder, Nigel Longhurst, died on 5th June.

Although he wasn't actively involved in the continued running of the Friends, Fitz, as I knew him, was a huge fan of Darwin, and took great delight in seeing his hero depicted on the Bank of England £10 note. He was also a dedicated sceptic, whose planned magnum opus, Fitzroy's Crap Theories of the Mind, Body & Spirit, sadly never saw the light of day.

Nigel's nickname, Fitzroy, came about when, down the pub one evening, we worked out our ‘author names’ by taking our middle names and appending the names of the roads in which we had been brought up. My author name, Lewis Alistair, had a certain Scottish dignity to it, but never caught on; Nigel's author name, Craig Fitzroy, was an instant hit—not least because of its Darwinian connotations.

Having very similar senses of humour, Fitz and I made a habit of taking credit for each other's jokes, but I must confess that it was Fitz who came up with the Friends of Charles Darwin's rather clever motto, Charlie is my Darwin—a pun on Robert Burns's Charlie, He's my Darling—and it was Fitz (writing as ‘Torn Rubbers’) who penned our magnificent parody of the Burns classic. (‘Torn Rubbers’, as very few people seem to have realised, is an anagram of ‘Robert Burns’.)

My condolences to Fitz's wife, Madeleine (Ms Fitz), and to his three children from an earlier marriage, Paula, David and Oliver.

I'll miss the daft, old bugger.

The founders of The Friends of Charles Darwin, Nigel Longhurst (L) and Richard Carter (R), on 3rd February, 199, celebrating the announcement that Charles Darwin was to depicted on the new Bank of England £10 note.

The founders of The Friends of Charles Darwin, Nigel ‘Fitz’ Longhurst (L) and Richard Carter (R), on 3rd February, 1999, celebrating the announcement that Charles Darwin was to depicted on the new Bank of England £10 note.

Bookshelf triage

Over on my personal website, I've just published a new piece about trying to free up space on my over-full bookshelves. (You shouldn't be at all surprised to hear that Charles Darwin is mostly to blame.)

The Correspondence of Charles Darwin

Bookshelf triage
When bookshelves become full, only the fittest volumes survive.