Michael D. Barton
I live in Portland, OR. I am currently seeking employment in the realms of history, history of science, museums, and science education. I can be contacted at darwinsbulldog AT gmail DOT com.
CV / Facebook / Twitter / Flickr / SlideShare
If you’re interested in me doing a book review, please go here.
The Dispersal of Darwin is my online space to share with interested folk news and views on Darwin, evolution, natural history, and the history of science, with occasional posts about other science-related topics, including creationism. I finished my undergraduate degree at Montana State University in Bozeman, MT in 2008, majoring in the History of Science (SETS) and minoring in Museum Studies. I started graduate school at the same university in the Fall of 2008, again in the history department. My interests are with Charles Darwin, the development of evolutionary theory, natural history, the history of natural history museums, the evolution-creation debate and the general history of science. I was fortunate to work on a project to transcribe the letters of the 19th-century physicist John Tyndall, and my graduate research was on Tyndall as well. I currently live in Portland, OR, and in the summer of 2010 I did an internship at OMSI, on the exhibit Einstein.
I am married to a librarian whom I met in Bozeman and we enjoy spending time with our 5-year-old son Patrick (see what he has to say) and watching him get excited about the world around him.
I also occasionally blog at Transcribing Tyndall, a companion blog to working on the John Tyndall Correspondence Project, and Exploring Portland’s Natural Areas.
View my Darwin Day 2009 post where I discuss my past and what tempted me to start (and continue) a Darwin blog.
2009 brought my first trips out of the United States, one to Cambridge, England and the other to London.
Info on my talk about history of science blogging at HSS 2009 in Phoenix, AZ.
I regularly update a list of blogs and Twitter feeds that focus or dabble in the history of science.
Info about my participation in a history of science session at ScienceOnline 2011 in North Carolina.
Listen to my appearance on BBC Radio’s “Pods and Blogs” program on February 17, 2009 here.
Listen to my appearance on Skeptically Speaking in September 2011 here.
I was interviewed by Bora Zivkovic as an attendee of ScienceOnline 2011 here.
I wrote a post for the Foundation Beyond Belief blog on connecting children to nature here.
This is a wonderful site. For me Darwin was always the Victorian scientific rationalist par excellence, utterly thorough and objective.
I’ve been doing a version of Lewis Carroll’s “Hunting of the Snark” for almost 2 years now and I personified the character of The Boots as Charles Darwin … it might interest you & your more nonsensical readers! I have my reasons for this choice but shall remain mum for now …
Some of the panels & text where Darwin appears are here:
http://justtheplaceforasnark.blogspot.com/search?q=charles+darwin
For Mahendra, already 2 years ago the Snark was just the right place for Charles Darwin:
http://justtheplaceforasnark.blogspot.com/2007/06/fit-first-page-two-panel-one.html
I think, Mahendra is on target!
http://www.snrk.de/DarwinStudySnark.jpg
More you find here (9MB PDF document):
http://www.snrk.de/HolidaySnark.cgi
I wonder if you all have any information on the flea from the hairy-nosed armadillo that Darwin is reputed to have given to the Australian naturalist William Sharp Macleay and which is now held in the Macleay Museum in Sydney. I’m interested in the history of collections and would like to trace both the armadillo and the flea. Thanks for any help you can give
You might add James Moore and Adrian Desmind to you list of Darwin Scholars.
Hi there, super interesting blog. I’m glad I stumbled upon it!
I’m involved with a project that features images from rare and special books at the University of British Columbia Library and presents them along with text. The project has a section on Charles Darwin letters—written to and by him. If you’re interested, you can check them out here (http://ubcvault.ca/catalog/detail.php?image_id=304).
Dear Sir,
Please find details of two sets of Darwin stamps and one commemorative coin. The Falklands stamp issue has just been voted the 9th most popular stamp issue of any type from 2009 (and therefore the most popular Darwin issue) by the reader’s of Stamp and Coin Mart.
Ascension Island Stamps issued 9th November 2009 – http://www.postoffice.gov.ac
Falkland Islands Stamps issued 23rd April 2009 – http://www.falklandstamps.com
Falkland Islands Commemorative Coin issued June 2009 – http://www.pobjoy.com
Let me know by e-mail if you would like images for illustration purposes.
John smith
Thanks for the comment! Always cool to find a fellow evolutionary blogger…although I really should get my blogging back up to speed. I will start by updating my site. And maybe even post something.
Cheers!
Hi Bridget – Thanks for commenting!
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I don’t think Darwin would have moved those books around…but then again, Darwin was a real scientist.
@Jim – Are you saying I am not a scientist? Ouch. I agree, I am not. I am a history student.
What’s your point?
Any chance you can dredge up the reading list for Standford’s Darwin’s Legacy course?
I am not sure if there was a reading list, but you have seen the videos, right? If not, click here.
I’ve inquired w/ someone at Stanford about a reading list, because I see nothing online.
I’ve emailed you the reading list!
Michael you seem like a really nice guy but removing books to another section just because you don’t agree with them seems very childish and a huge waste of time.
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Greetings from The Bicycling Guitarist!
Great blog you’ve got here. I liked reading about the girls whose shirts refer to one of their band’s patterns resembling the DNA molecule. If they were in a high school in some parts of the country, those shirts would be banned by upset parents who are in denial of the fact evolution happens.
I wrote a song in 1991 you might enjoy. The lyrics page (with optional free mp3 downloads) is given as my Website link for this comment. I hope to rerecord it sometime this year with my new band Rosetucky.
Welcome to Oregon.
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Great site! And thanks for linking to my post over at the Wolverine Blog – always great to encounter another Darwin fan. Who did you study with at MSU? I am contemplating doing some work with them, and would love an opinion about good folks in the environmental history field. In any case, keep up the great blogging