The most famous and in some circles, infamous, scientist was born 200 years ago today in Shrewsbury, England. Charles Darwin came into the world like everyone else. He would go out in a spectacular fashion.
Readers here are well aware that evolutionary biology has become an ideological football in modern day America carried tightly by the religious right on the field of political battle. Darwin's name is so reviled by social conservatives that it is routinely used on the tip of a rhetorical spear and pointed at the heart of the US educational system. But what few people know is that Darwin was aware of the effect his ideas might have on his peers, reportedly starting with one near and dear to his own heart:
Darwin held back the book to avoid offending his wife, said Ruth Padel, the naturalist's great-great-granddaughter. "She said he seemed to be putting God further and further off," Padel said in her north London home. "But they talked it through, and she said, "Don't change any of your ideas for fear of hurting me.'" ... The 1859 publication of "On the Origin of Species" changed scientific thought forever — and generated opposition that continues to this day. It is this elegant explanation of how species evolve through natural selection that makes Darwin's 200th birthday on Feb. 12 such a major event.
More than 300 birthday celebrations are planned in Britain alone, where Darwin's face graces the 10-pound bill along with that of Queen Elizabeth II. Shrewsbury, the central England town where Darwin was born and raised, is holding a monthlong festival for its most famous son. And a permanent exhibition re-creating some of his most famous experiments is opening at Down House, his former home near London.
Despite the scientific and social firestorms Darwin helped ignite, he was buried in Westminster Abbey in a full state funeral. Today his grave is a scant few feet away from the final resting place of fellow scientific luminaries Isaac Newton and William Herschel. The modest grave marker is inscribed simply "CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN; BORN 12 FEBRUARY 1809; DIED 19 APRIL 1882."