Charles Robert Darwin, born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, is best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. Darwin published his theory of evolution with meticulous evidence on November 24, 1859 – this day in history. In On the Origin of Species, he proposed that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, with differentiation of species resulting from a process of natural selection, a theory now widely accepted, and considered a foundational concept in science.
As David Quammen, an award-winning science writer, has written in The Tangled Tree, scientific discoveries in just the past forty years constitute a revolutionary revision of Darwin’s “tree” of life (although not, importantly, a repudiation of it). Because of both the electron microscope and the development of methods to sequence genes and compare genomes, we have become aware of aspects of life Darwin couldn’t even dream about.
In fact, we didn’t even know about the existence of one of the main domains of life, the archaea, until recently! (Scientists now divide all life into three domains: bacteria, archaea, and eukarya. Bacteria you are probably familiar with. Eukarya are organisms that have cells with a nucleus, and include plants and animals and human beings.
A page from Darwin’s Notebook B showing his sketch of the tree of life
But now we understand that, as Quammen explained on NPR, “innovation in genomes doesn’t always come gradually. Sometimes it comes suddenly, in an instant, by horizontal gene transfer. And that represents the convergence, not the divergence, of lineages.” This discovery means all the domains of life are much more interrelated than we thought.
In fact, we didn’t even know about the existence of one of the main domains of life, the archaea, until recently! (Scientists now divide all life into three domains: bacteria, archaea, and eukarya. Bacteria you are probably familiar with. Eukarya are organisms that have cells with a nucleus, and include plants and animals and human beings. Archaea are a microbial species like bacteria, but with major structural and ecological differences from them.)
Revision of Darwin’s tree by evolutionary biologist Carl R. Woese
The discovery of Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT, also called Lateral Gene Transfer or LGT) as a pathway to heredity, and its importance in the process of evolution, is also an astounding development Darwin could not have anticipated. This means cells can acquire genes from other cells around them, “horizontally” rather than only vertically from a previous generation. In fact, gene sequencers have been astonished at just how much HGT has been going on. This does not mean gradual evolution through previous generations did not and does not occur, but rather, that over time evolutionary change takes the shape of a tangled web more than a stereotypical looking tree.
But of course Darwin had none of the tools of modern science to refine his theory. Nevertheless, he managed to inspire revolutions not only in science but in the body politic itself, inspiring many destructive movements. The term “Darwinism” was used to support arguments for “survival of the fittest” policies including eugenics, Naziism, colonialism, and imperialism.
Moreover, as “Scientific American” notes:
More than a century and a half after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking thesis on the development of life, evolution remains a contentious topic in the United States.”
Why? They explain:
For many religious people, the Darwinian view of life—a panorama of brutal struggle and constant change—may conflict with both the biblical creation story and the Judeo-Christian concept of an active, loving God who intervenes in human events.”
An 1871 caricature following publication of The Descent of Man was typical of many showing Darwin with an ape body, identifying him in popular culture as the leading author of evolutionary theory.
Even within the last 15 years, the article, written in 2015, avers:
. . . educators, scientists, parents, religious leaders and others in more than a dozen states have engaged in public battles in school boards, legislatures and courts over how school curricula should handle evolution. These battles have ebbed in recent years, but they have not died out.”
Probably the best website for information on Charles Darwin is “The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online,” which contains all of his publications in a free and easily accessible format. And there’s more! There are his scientific illustrations. There are tons of links to free audio mp3 files of Darwin’s works. There’s a biography with hypertext links, and pictures galore. Definitely worth checking out. You can access all of it here.
The title page of the 1st edition
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