Poking around in flowers’ private parts.
Writing tagged: ‘darwin correspondence’
Modesty and candour: the Darwin-Wallace friendship
To mark the 200th anniversary of Wallace’s birth, an article exploring the friendship between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.
Cambridge Darwin pilgrimage
A trip to see a treasure-trove of Darwinalia.
Book review: ‘The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, volume 8, 1860’
Letters to and from Darwin in the immediate aftermath of the publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’.
20-Feb-1835: Darwin witnesses an earthquake
On 20th February 1835, while taking a rest in a wood in Valvidia, Southern Chile, Charles Darwin experienced a major earthquake.
10-Jan-1860: Darwin to Lyell
On 10th January 1860, Charles Darwin wrote to his good friend the geologist Charles Lyell, humorously describing mankind’s ancestor.
I have seriously cool friends (part 3)
My wonderful, long-suffering partner, Jen, filled a gaping hole in my Darwin-groupie library this Christmas.
Two triumphant predictions for science
In which one of Darwin's correspondents compares Darwin's famous moth prediction with the prediction of the orbit of the planet Neptune.
06-Mar-1860: Darwin on how to read ‘On the Origin of Species’
On 6th March 1860, Charles Darwin advised a scientist he correctly believed to be sceptical of his views how to go about reading ‘On the Origin of Species’.
02-Jan-1860: Whewell sets the right tone
On 2nd January 1860, the mathematician, science historian, polymath, and coiner of the term ‘scientist’, William Whewell, wrote to Charles Darwin to acknowledge receipt of his copy of the first edition of ‘On the Origin of Species’.
Getting to know Charles Darwin in person
Forget the biographies. Forget the published works. If you really want to get to know Charles Darwin in person, you need to read his correspondence.
02-Nov-1859: Darwin is infinitely pleased with his ‘child’
On 2nd November 1859, Charles Darwin’s publisher, John Murray, sent him a specimen copy of the first edition of On the Origin of Species. Darwin was delighted with ‘the appearance of my child’. The book was published later that month.