Charles Darwin was born on
February 12, 1809. The son of a wealthy doctor, by age eight he was collecting specimens and showing an interest in the natural sciences. Darwin
attended the University of Erasmus medical school, following in his father’s
footsteps, but was largely uninterested in his lectures and studies. In his
second year, he joined the Plinian Society, a somewhat radical naturalist
group. In 1831, when Darwin was
only twenty-two years old, he joined the scientific voyage of the HMS
Beagle, a voyage that would lead him around the world and, famously, to
the Galapagos islands.
Shortly after the journey,
Darwin began to formulate his unifying theory of evolution. Although it is
often romanticized that Darwin made all the discoveries that led to this
theory on the Galapos Islands, in reality the journey of the Beagle
stopped in many different places where Darwin observed the history of
changes in the environment and its fauna. In fact, Darwin’s famous Galapagos
finches, which are often cited as one of the first understood examples of
adaptation, were not even understood by Darwin as finches – he thought they
were different species of birds until corrected by an ornithologist.
Darwin’s exhaustive studies
of natural selection and adaptation also proved to be exhausting. In 1837, he began to suffer fromy heart palpitations
and stomach pain that would plague him the rest of his life . A few
years later, he proposed marriage to his cousin, Emma
Wedgewood. Each were the grandchildren of Josiah Wedgewood, the famed
pottery manufacturer.
Darwin’s theory of
evolution was published across many articles, lectures and letters, but
collected most concisely in two works: The Origin of Species and
The Descent of Man. Ironically, given how hereticalhis theory would
be declared many years later, his theory of evolution was actually less
inflammatory when it was first published than it is today, and many
religious leaders believed that evolution was evidence of God’s work through
the laws of nature.
Darwin’s health gradually
declined until his death in 1882. While the scientific community
provisionally accepted his theory in his lifetime, it wasn’t until the 1930s
that the understanding of genetics would vindicate natural selection as the
sole means of species diversification.
Darwin is often considered
one of the most influential thinkers of all time, and on his birthday we
celebrate by serving a dish that Emma served him often. A collection of
Emma's recipes has been published under the title
"Mrs. Charles Darwin's Recipe Book: Revived and Illustrated. "
When Charles was not aboard the HMS Beagle, Emma saw to it he ate very well,
so much so, she compiled a collection of some of his recipes complete
with drawings and photographs. The recipe for boiling rice is in Charles
Darwin's own handwriting with a photo of Darwin standing over a pot of
boiling water eyeing his watch.
To celebrate Charles Darwin's birthday we suggest making his favorite French
Ragout of Mutton and watching Creation (2009) which details how their
passionate marriage was torn apart by what some have called "the most
dangerous idea in history." According to the film's producer Jeremy
Thomas, the United States was one of the last countries to find a
distributor due to the prominence of the Creation–evolution controversy.
Thomas said: "It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot
potato in America. There's still a great belief that he [God] made the world
in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in
America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the
US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules."