Happy Birthday Sir David Attenborough!

Just extending Adrian’s birthday message to naturalist and filmmaker David Attenborough.

[Image]

Dispersal Event 4/26/08

This View of Life, the website for the University of Oklahoma’s 2009 celebration.

A five part series on BBC Radio 4, “Hunting the Beagle.” Posts from the The HMS Beagle Project on parts 1, 2 , and 3. UPDATE: there’s a post now encompassing all five parts.

From shropshirestar.com (4/26/08):

Darwin memorials evolve into reality

An exhibition showing three shortlisted designs for a memorial to Shrewsbury’s most famous son Charles Darwin has gone on show in the town centre.

Members of the public are being called upon to visit the show at the Darwin Shopping Centre and offer their opinions to help the judging panel with its decision for what will become a geo garden.

Director of the Darwin Festival Jon King said: “There are models of all three designs in the unit at the Darwin Shopping Centre as well as televisions showing presentations of the designs and what inspired them.

“When they started the pieces, we had no idea what was going to be created and each of them has approached the themes from different directions so now there is the hard part of deciding which one will be the final decision.”

Read the full story in today’s Shropshire Star.

PR Newswire (4/25/08): Darwin’s Garden Exhibition Opens at The New York Botanical Garden

LoHud.com (4/22/08): Darwin’s garden evolves

Mid Devon Star (4/25/08): Darwin had a nose for an idea (a May 7th lecture about Robert Fitzroy)

NPR’s story on Darwin’s papers going online.

Two articles in the recent Kew Magazine (Spring 2008) about botanical artists.

The Human Flower Project: Geobotany: Rocking the Garden World (some thoughts on J.D. Hooker)

"Life of the Day": Rosalind Franklin Bio

Today’s “Life of the Day” from the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography‘s website is Rosalind Franklin. Read the biography with this ephemeral link.

This one’s for you, Karen

Karen on the young Darwin:

“Darwin’s not a stuff-shirted Nigel Bruce”

An open letter to Simon Gurr: more hair please

Simon Gurr responds

Young Darwins in February: Bora 1, Greg 0

Annie Darwin Podcast

April 2nd’s Oxford Dictionary of National Biography podcast was about Annie Darwin (1841-1851), Charles Darwin’s daughter (a reading of a memorial essay by Randal Keynes, author of Annie’s Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter, and Human Evolution). Listen or download with this link. Other biography podcasts archived here.

A Darwin Book for a Darwin Post

The review I did for Janet Browne’s Darwin’s Origin of Species: A Biography back in August is now up at Science Creative Quarterly. I entered it in for their first monthly book prize contest, and won. Therefore, I am the recipient of a book, The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin, which luckily I haven’t seen or read. The book was reviewed by David Ng for The World’s Fair in July 2006. A Darwin book for a Darwin post…

[Old] New Books for My Darwin Shelf

I have started to list the books in my collection on Library Thing, and it will be some time until the entirety of my books are listed. One reason for that is because I cannot stop acquiring new [used] titles. Last week I received in the mail Robert M. Young’s Darwin’s Metaphor: Nature’s place in Victorian culture (1985) and David L. Hull’s Darwin and His Critics: The Reception of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution by the Scientific Community (1973) (see Thought’s in a Haystack for many passages from this book and commentary). Today I received David Kohn’s edited volume, The Darwinian Heritage [Including Preceedings of The Charles Darwin Centenary Conference (July 1982)] (1985). They are running on Amazon now for, respectively, $52.00, $62.50, and $78.14. I jumped on them when much cheaper copies were available. I paid $45 for all three… good deal!

Now, for what’s important: will I ever get to reading them? Who knows…

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online on September 28, 2007:

Charles Robert Darwin [with photographic portrait]. In Reeve, L. and Edward Walford eds. 1866. Portraits of men of eminence in literature, science, and art with biographical memoirs. The photographs from life, by Ernest Edwards, B. A. London: Lovell Reeve & Co., vol. 5, pp. 49-52. Text Images Text & images

[Darwin, C. R.] 1880. [Letter of thanks to the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union]. The naturalist 6, No. 65 (December): 65-68. Text Images Text & images

Oliver, Daniel. 1855. Memoranda of plants, collected by the Coquet, in 1855. Transactions of the Tyneside Naturalists’ Field Club 3, part 2 (Read 15 November): 67. Images

Galton, Francis. 1871. Experiments in pangenesis, by breeding from rabbits of a pure variety, into whose circulation blood taken from other varieties had previously been transfused. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London 19 (Read 30 March): 393-410. Images

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online on September 24 & 26, 2007:

[Emma Darwin's memo about Darwin's religious doubts] (c. 2.1839) Text Images Text & images

Darwin, C. R. 1829-1832. [Records of captured insects]. In Stephens, J. F. Illustrations of British entomology; or, a synopsis of indigenous insects etc. London: Baldwin and Cradock, vols. 1-5. Text

[Galton, Francis.] 1882. The late Mr. Darwin: a suggestion. Pall Mall Gazette (27 April). Text

Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin

This radio program originally appeared in July 2006, but this week it was rebroadcast.

Speaking of Faith, “Evolution and Wonder: Understanding Charles Darwin,” hosted by Krista Tippitt w/ guest James Moore (Darwin historian):

“We’ll take a fresh and thought-provoking look at Darwin’s life and ideas. He did not argue against God but against a simple understanding of the world — its beauty, its brutality, and its unfolding creation.”

Program Website (and download)

UPDATE: Born Again Bird Watcher‘s thoughts…

Down House

Richard Carter, FCD reminds us that today in 1842, Charles Darwin moved to Down House.

Photo: Richard Carter

Today in Science History: John Gould & Alexander von Humboldt

From Today in Science History:

John Gould (born 14 Sep 1804; died 3 Feb 1881): English ornithologist whose life work produced 41 lavishly illustrated volumes on birds from all over the world, containing in all about 3,000 plates, all lithographed and hand-painted. Of these, his Birds of Australia was particularly significant (1840-69) as the first comprehensive record of the continent’s birds and mammals. With its plates of the birds were descriptions, notes on their distribution and adaptation to the environment. He assisted Charles Darwin with identification of the specimens collected during the voyage of the Beagle. By informing Darwin that the finches belonging to separate species, he provided essential information giving Darwin insight leading to his later development of the theory of evolution.

Charles Darwin’s correspondence to and from Gould.
Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, 5 parts on birds (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1838-1841) by Gould

Alexander von Humboldt (born 14 Sep 1769; died 6 May 1859): (Baron) Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt was a German natural scientist, archeologist, explorer and geographer, who made two major expeditions to Latin America (1799-1804) and to Asia (1829). During the first, equipped with the best scientific instruments, he surveyed and collected geological, zoological, botanical, and ethnographic specimens, including over 60,000 rare or new tropical plants. He charted and made observations on a cold ocean current along the Peruvian coast, now named, the Humboldt Current. In geology, he made pioneering observations of stratigraphy, structure and geomorphology; he understood the connections between volcanism and earthquakes. Humboldt named the Jurassic System.

Charles Darwin’s correspondence to and from Humboldt.

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online on August 28 and 29, 2007:

Lyell, Charles. 1863. The geological evidences of the antiquity of man with remarks on the origin of species by variation. 3rd edition, revised. London: John Murray. Images [Images from Google books]

[Recollections of Darwin at Cambridge by John Maurice Herbert] (2 June 1882). Text
[Recollections of Darwin by Rev. John Brodie Innes] (nd). Text
[Recollections of Darwin by William Allport Leighton] (c. 1886). Text
[Recollections of Charles Darwin] (c. mid 1880s). Text

Pliny the Elder died today in 79 A.D.

I only offer this information because next week I will be reading selections from Pliny’s Natural History along with a chapter about him in Roger French’s Ancient Natural History.
Richard Carter, FCD adds Pliny to list of top scientists

Wikipedia: Pliny the Elder

From Today in Science History:

Died 24 Aug 79 A.D. (born 23 A.D.) Roman savant and author of the celebrated Natural History, in 37 volumes an encyclopaedic work of very uneven accuracy that was nonetheless an authority on scientific matters up to the Middle Ages. He prepared this as a digest of two thousand ancient books written by nearly five hundred writers. He was mostly undiscriminating regarding the accuracy of the content. Though he rejected, for example, the possibility of immortality, he also rejected Pytheas’ valid theory that the moon was responsible for tides. Correctly, he accepted the spherical form of the Earth. As another example, he included various theories on the origin of amber, one correct among others fanciful and wrong. The book dealt in subjects ranging from astronomy, geography, and zoology. He died in the eruption of Vesuvius, too anxious to witness the event to retreat from the ashes and toxic gases.

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online between August 21-23, 2007:

Wallace, Alfred Russel. 1903. The dawn of a great discovery “My relations with Darwin in reference to the theory of natural selection”. Black and White 25 (17 January): 78. Text

Owen, Richard. 1861. On the cerebral characters of man and the ape. Annals and Magazine of Natural History 3d ser. 7: 456-8. 3 pls. Text Images Text & images

Gray, John Edward. 1845. [Specimens presented by Darwin in] Catalogue of the specimens of lizards in the collection of the British Museum. London: Newman. Images

Darwin, C. R. 1838. [Notes on Cocos-Keeling Islands plants]. In J. S. Henslow, Florula Keelingensis. An account of the native plants of the Keeling Islands. By the Rev. J. S. HENSLOW, M.A., Professor of Botany in the University of Cambridge. Annals of natural history Vol. 1, No. 5 (July): 337-347. 2 pls. Text Images Text & images

Images added to existing transcript recollections of Darwin:

[Recollections of Charles Darwin by William Darwin (1883)]. Text Images Text & images
[Recollections of Charles Darwin by George Darwin (5.1882)]. Text Images Text & images
[Recollections of Charles Darwin by George Darwin (nd)]. Text mages Text & images

"What’s New" on Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online on August 20 and 21, 2007:

Martineau, Harriet. 1877. [Recollection of Darwin in] Harriet Martineau’s autobiography. Edited by Maria Weston Chapman. Boston: J.R. Osgood and Company, Vol. 1, p. 268. Text

Lane, Edward. 1882. [Recollection of Darwin] Letter read by Dr. B. W. Richardson, F.R.S. at his lecture on Chas. Darwin, F.R.S. in St. George’s Hall, Langham Place, October 22nd, 1882. by Edward Lane, M.A., M.D. [n.p: n.p] Text

Darwin, Francis. 1916. Memoir of Sir George Darwin. In Scientific Papers by Sir George Howard Darwin. Cambridge Vol. 5: ix-xxxiii. Text

Darwin, Francis. 1920. Recollections. In idem, Springtime and other essays. London: John Murray, pp. 51-69. Text

Darwin, Bernard. [1933.] Introduction [with reminiscence of his grandmother Emma Darwin]. In Gertrude Jekyll, Children and Gardens. 2nd edition. London: Country Life Ltd.; New York: Scribners. Text

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online on August 16th & 17th, 2007:

Illustrations in Darwin Online - an overview of over 1000 illustrations

Darwin, Francis. 1899. The botanical work of Darwin. Annals of Botany 13: ix-xix. Text

Darwin, Leonard. 1929. Memories of Down House. The Nineteenth Century 106:118-123. Text

Herbert, Sandra. 1995. From Charles Darwin’s portfolio: An early essay on South American geology and species. Earth Sciences History 14, no. 1, pp. 23-36. Text Images Text & images

Fenton, Carroll Lane. [1924]. Darwin and the theory of evolution. Girard, Kansas: Haldeman-Julius. Images

More on Forbes

I also came across this excerpt from On the Origin of Species in the Manitowoc Herald Times (WI) for Sept. 15, 1966, as “3 Minutes with the Great Books.” This quote if from Chapter 11, “Geographical Distribution,” of the first edition (pp. 356-357, or here on Darwin Online). Forbes’ work in biogeography is well discussed in Janet Browne’s The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography (New Haven: Yale UP, 1983), chapters 5 and 6; and Philip F. Rehbock’s The Philosophical Naturalists: Themes in Early Nineteenth-Century British Biology (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1983).

Letters from Forbes to Darwin and Darwin to Forbes at The Darwin Correspondence Project.

"Unfinished Labors and Thwarted Ambitions": The Life and Science of Edward Forbes

At the Heritage and Research Center I have been searching newspapers for articles about Yellowstone National Park. I use newspaperarchive.com, and so far I have come across some things of interest not related to Yellowstone. One such piece is a small article about the centenary of the birth of Edward Forbes in the Evening Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA) for February 12, 1915. Notice the date, February 12. Anyone else have the birthday?

I thought I’d disperse some online content (and pdfs I have available) about the naturalist Edward Forbes, who, according to this article, had “unfinished labors” and “twarted ambitions” due to his early death at the age of 39.

Forbes on Wikipedia

E. Forbes, On the connexion between the distribution of the exising fauna and flora of the British Isles (1846)

G. Wilson and A. Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes (1861) on Google Book Search

Much more by or about Forbes on Google Book Search

“Professor Edward Forbes, F.R.S.,” Journal of Science and Literary Gazette (1854)

Robert Kunzig, “Deep-Sea Biology: Living with the Endless Frontier,” Science 302 (Nov. 7, 2003): 991.

Thomas R. Anderson and Tony Rice, “Deserts on the sea floor: Edward Forbes and his azoic hypothesis for a lifeless deep ocean,” Endeavour 30 (2006): 131-137.

Philip H. Rehbock, “Edward Forbes (1815-1854) – an annotated list of published and unpublished writings,” J. Soc. Biblphy. nat. Hist. 9 (1979): 171-218.

Eric L. Mills, “A view of Edward Forbes, naturalist,” Archives of Natural History 11 (1984): 365-393.

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online between July 30th and August 3rd, 2007:

Osborn, Henry Fairfield. 1928. Charles Darwin. In ibid., Impressions of great naturalists. New York, London: Charles Scribner. Images

Better quality images of Darwin’s theoretical notebooks:
Notebook A: Geology (1837-1839). Images
Notebook B: [Transmutation of species (1837-1838)]. Text Images Text & images [This notebook contains the illustration on the left]
Notebook C: [Transmutation of species (1838.02-1838.07)]. Images
Notebook D: [Transmutation of species (1838.07.15-1838.10.02)]. Images
Notebook E: [Transmutation of species (1838-1839)] Images
Notebook M: [Metaphysics on morals and speculations on expression (1838)]. Images
Notebook N: [Metaphysics and expression (1838-1839)]. Images

Darwin, C. R. ‘The position of the bones of Mastodon (?) at Port St Julian is of interest’ Text Images Text & images (Contains Darwin’s earliest known reference to ‘the gradual birth & death of species’)

Sulivan, N. A. 1951. Management of Ships Under Sail. The mariner’s Mirror 37: 243-245. Text

Pearson, Karl. 1914. Darwin Portraits & Ancestry. In The Life, Letters and Labours of Francis Galton. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Appendix. Images (Reproduced from http://galton.org/)

Lewes, George Henry. 1856. Hereditary influence, animal and human. Westminster Review 66 (July): 135-62. Images (Images provided by John S. Wilkins)

Mega-Post: Post-Sixth Week of Internship

UPDATE: I fixed the link for “What did Darwin think was his best feature?”

Another week of internship… and a nice weekend with my family. Bozeman’s annual Sweet Pea Festival was this weekend, and my son Patrick really enjoyed the parade. Here are the previous week’s links:

First, update your feeds for The Beagle Project Blog (old site), always something interesting…

Second, the Field Museum has a shirt and mug for the Darwin exhibit

NOTABLE HISTORY OF SCIENCE EVENTS:
August 1: Jean-Baptiste de Monet, Chevalier (Knight) de Lamarck born in 1744; Edward Tyson died in 1708
August 2: John Tyndall born in 1820

DARWIN, NATURAL HISTORY, HISTORY OF SCIENCE (Darwin-related):
The Virginia Quarterly Review‘s Spring 2006 issue, “Why Darwin is still right“
Here’s the site for a forthcoming book, Looking for Darwin
Richard Carter, FCD reviews Darwin’s Origin of Species by Janet Browne
ricklibrarian reviews Darwin’s Origin of the Species by Janet Browne
Guardian Unlimited: 2006 article on Darwin’s friends who “ensured the triumph of evolutionary theory” (w/ Janet Browne)
Darwin’s Bookkeeping at Thoughts in a Haystack, commenting on:
Guardian Unlimited: What did Darwin think was his best feature? (audio w/ Janet Browne)
Gainesville.com: UF scientists spread ‘gospel’ of Darwin (more at Florida Citizens for Science)
A recent post at Post-Darwinist points to an older post and article on Darwin hagiography
Thoughts in a Haystack has several quotes from Darwin’s critics (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
Darwin Exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago at International Journal
Scoop Independent News (New Zealand): Darwin – the most in depth exhibition ever (how will it be here if it is in Chicago until January 1st?)
Richard Carter, FCD on A modern seed dispersal mechanism
Darwin On Time (environmental periodicities) at A Blog Around the Clock
Darwin dramatized (on a performance of Re:Design) at Archimedes’ Hot Tub
U.S. Intellectual History on the plans for Victorian Studies’ Darwin issue
Historians: welcome to the 2009 party! at The Beagle Project Blog
Charles Robert Darwin pictures at National Portrait Gallery
Mr. Bergh to the Rescue, Darwin and gorilla cartoon from 1871
The Mount Residents’ Group: Charles Darwin in Shrewsbury
Story Field Conference Conversations on The Darwin Project
Charles Darwin Biography at Buzzle.com
Great Entomologists: Henry Walter Bates at Ontogeny

EVOLUTION, NATURAL SELECTION, GENETICS:
Evolution News Roundup: August 5th, 2007 via Ontogeny
Mano Singham’s Web Journal’s 16th, 17th and 18th post on evolution
Evolution and how to turn little kids into scientists at The Beagle Project Blog
Guardian Unlimited: DNA pioneer’s legacy saved

CREATIONISM & INTELLIGENT DESIGN:
Combating creationism with history at Laelaps
Paleontologists representing the SVP attack the Creation Museum

MUSEUMS, COLLECTIONS, ETC.:
New Yorker: review of exhibit, “Mythic Creatures: Dragons, Unicorns, and Mermaids“
publicbroadcasting.net: “Deadly Medicine” Explores Dark Side of Eugenics
Two posts from PALEOBLOG offer photos from and comments about the Museum nationale d’Histoire naturelle
Natural History Museum at Tring: Walter Rothschild: The Man, the Museum and the Menagerie
H-Net: Hooke’s Books: Books that Influenced or Were Influenced by Robert Hooke’s Micrographia (go here for exhibit)

OTHER HISTORY OF SCIENCE:
What big neural spines you have… at Laelaps (some paleontology history)
Laelaps’ 2nd installment of The Boneyard, a paleontology blog carnival
The Guardian of science at The Beagle Project Blog
June 2007 Endeavour table of contents
Sept. 22, 2007 Notes & Records of the Royal Society table of contents
Technology and Culture: A. Hunter Dupree’s Science in the Federal Government
History News Network: Historians and Wikipedia
Guardian Unlimited: Michael White’s Galileo Antichrist depicts the struggle between science and faith
Reports of the Death of Colonialism… have been greatly exaggerated at Occam’s Trowel, and more about Russia’s North Pole claim at … Or Something
The Resurre[c]tionists (bodysnatchers) at Curious Expeditions
Colonial Science and Its Instruments at Boston 1775

"What’s New" at Darwin Online

These were added to The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online between July 24th and 26th, 2007:

Chancellor, G. ‘Filled with astonishment’: an introduction to Beagle field notebook 1.13

Darwin’s ‘Fish in Spirits of Wine’ [Beagle animal notes] (1832-1836). Text Images Text & images

[Morris, John.] 1860. [Review of] On the origin of species. Dublin Review 48: 50-81. Text Images Text & images

Allen, Grant. 1885. Charles Darwin. New York: D. Appleton. Images

[Darwin, Francis.] 1888. Darwin, Charles Robert. In L. Stephen and S. Lee eds., Dictionary of national biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., vol. 14: 72-84. Text

Basman, Antranig. Technical Documentation for Darwin Online
Basman, Antranig. Content Markup Standard for Darwin Online
Basman, Antranig. Date Encoding Standard for Darwin Online

Mega-Post: Post-Third Week of Internship

This is my avatar from the The Simpson’s movie website…

NOTABLE HISTORY OF SCIENCE EVENTS
July 9th: Sir George Darwin (second son of Charles Darwin) born in 1845; Loren Eisley (author of Darwin’s Century and Darwin and the Mysterious Mr. X) died in 1977.
July 12th: Josiah Wedgewood (Darwin’s grandfather, not his father-in-lae/uncle) born in 1730.

DARWIN, NATURAL HISTORY, HISTORY OF SCIENCE (evolution related):
Afarensis: Darwin and His Seeds, and On the Theory of Natural Selection (quote)
The Beagle Project Blog on Darwin and Fitzroy
Influences on Darwin: Maer Hall and environs at The Red Notebook
Richard Carter, FCD’s Down House photos
Richard Carter, FCD’s favorite Wellcome image is a [pirate-y] walking stick once owned by Darwin (Pharyngula liked it, too)
Richard Carter, FCD informs us of a Darwin coin slated for 2009
Sandwalk: What is Darwinism?
Book Dragon reviews David Quammen’s The Boilerplate Rhino
Nature: Linnaeus and taxonomy in Japan (subscription required)
eBook: Asa Gray’s Darwiniana: essays and reviews pertaining to Darwinism

EVOLUTION, NATURAL SELECTION, GENETICS, ETC:
Dalhousie University: Evolutionary biology has moved past Darwin’s model
Mano Singham’s Web Journal: 7th, 8th and 9th posts in a series on evolution
Sandwalk’s favorite Wellcome image is a telegram to Francis Crick imforming him of receiving the Nobel Prize
Sandwalk comments on Pharyngula’s image post about Crick
The Struggle for Existence/Belief in Evolution at The Frontal Cortex
Red State Rabble: Carl Sagan explaining evolution

CREATIONISM & INTELLIGENT DESIGN:
A funny cartoon at Pharyngula
Greg Laden wants you to join the National Center for Science Education
Evolution News & Views: Another Dirty Little Secret in the History of Darwinism
NOVA’s Judgement Day: Intelligent Design on Trial
Kenneth Miller on The Colbert Report
Thoughts in a Haystack provides quotes/photos about the Scopes Monkey Trial (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)

MUSEUMS, COLLECTIONS, ETC:
Journal of Social History: Museum Manners: The Sensory Life of the Early Museum
Galileo’s Finger at the Museum of the History of Science in Florence, Italy
EADT: Platform for history at ‘online’ museum

OTHER HISTORY OF SCIENCE:
Latest issue of Isis table of contents
An old Tangled Bank on 18th century science
My advisor at MSU (Michael Reidy) is going on a sabbatical to research the relationship between mountaineering and the advancement of science
Religion and Science at Evolving Thoughts
SHOTnews links to The History of Science and Technology in the Northwest and Science and Law (also see earth forum for links)
Laelaps favorite Wellcome Image is of a plesiosaur (some history of paleontology)
Diary of a Dandelion Diva reviews Dava Sobel’s The Planets
Discover Magazine‘s The 7 Most Exciting Moments in Science
Scott Gerard‘s thoughts on studying the history of science
Laelaps on books: Nothing like some good ‘ol 19th century science
Bookyards Author For Today Is The Astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus

Sunday Afternoon Dispersal Event

Ontogeny links us to a Bill Moyers (PBS) interview with E.O. Wilson, and so does Darwiniana
Post-Darwinist on History of science and popular culture: Isaac Newton and the end of the world
Evolution News & Views on A Science Myth from the New York Times (it’s about Erwin’s evolution article)

Articles from the June 2007 issue of the Journal for the History of Biology here, including a few Darwin-related:

“Separated at Birth: The Interlinked Origins of Darwin’s Unconscious Selection Concept and the Application of Sexual Selection to Race” by Stephen G. Alter

“H. G. Bronn and the History of Nature” by Sander Gliboff

“Two New Volumes of Darwin’s Work: Essay Review” by Phillip R. Sloan

Today in Science History

from Today in Science History:

Sir Julian Huxley June 22, 1887-Feb. 14, 1975.

“Sir Julian Sorell Huxley was an English biologist, philosopher, educator, and author who greatly influenced the modern development of embryology, systematics, and studies of behaviour and evolution. He studied the differential growth of different body parts, Problems of Relative Growth (1932). He wrote many popular articles and essays, especially on ornithology and evolution, and co-produced several history films, including the Private Life of the Gannet (1934). No stranger to controversy, Huxley supported the contentious view that the human race could benefit from planned parenthood using artificial insemination by donors of “superior characteristics”. (He was the grandson of biologist T. H. Huxley and brother of Aldous Huxley.)”

Galileo Detests Heliocentrism

“In 1633, Galileo Galilei was forced by the Inquisition to “abjure, curse, and detest” his Copernican heliocentric views. “I, Galileo…do swear that I have always believed, do now believe and, with God’s aid shall believe hereafter, all that which is taught and preached by the … church. I must wholly forsake the false opinion that the sun is the center of the world and moves not, and that the earth is not the center of the world and moves….” He was then condemned to the “formal prison of the Holy Office” for an undetermined amount of time which would be served at the pleasure of his judges, and required to repeat the seven penitential psalms once a week for three years. The next day the Pope specified the prison sentence should be house arrest.”