richard owen – The Friends of Charles Darwin

Newsletter No. 4: Giant leaps

Apollo 11 · Origin of Species · Richard Owen · Charles Lyell · sloths · lice · deaf moths · pregnant lizards · puppy eyes · palaeoanthropology · book reviews · heads on spikes!

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Book review: ‘The Dinosaur Hunters’ by Deborah Cadbury

The Victorian search for dinosaurs.

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Darwin performs a blind test… on some condors

...to see how well they can smell.

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How do we know it was Owen?

…who wrote the anonymous, scathing review of ‘On the Origin of Species’?

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Archetypes and sterotypes

Brian Switek, FCD, on the Richard Owen (villain) v Thomas Henry Huxley (hero) stereotype.

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An embarrassment of Richards
In which my head appears on a spike (six times).
Hello, Serbia!
I am delighted to announce that the Friends of Charles Darwin have their first member from Serbia.
The Darwin bicentennial oak, 10 years on
Ten years ago today, I planted the Darwin Bicentennial Oak in my garden.
Hello, Azerbaijan!
I am delighted to announce that the Friends of Charles Darwin have their first member from Azerbaijan.
A cat among the pigeons
Could Charles Darwin really have been a moggy murderer?

03-Dec-1831: Darwin’s first night aboard HMS Beagle
Darwin records his experimentations with a hammock.
29-Jan-1839: Charles Darwin marries Emma Wedgwood
On 29th January 1839, after a short courtship and engagement, Charles Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood at St Peter's Church, Maer, Staffordshire.
14-May-1856: Darwin starts writing his ‘big species book’
On 14 May 1856, Charles Darwin recorded in his journal that, on the advice of his friend Charles Lyell, after almost 20 years exploring the subject, he had finally begun writing a ‘sketch’ of his ideas on species.
If humans evolved from monkeys, how come there are still monkeys?
This is a question frequently posed by creationists—and quite often by perfectly rational people…
13-Jan-1833: The day HMS Beagle nearly sank
Charles Darwin’s closest brush with death during the Beagle voyage came on Sunday 13th January 1833, near that most infamous of nautical perils, Cape Horn.