So here we are, February 12, 2009, and the bicentennial of the births of two of history's more significant people, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. When I was growing up, Abe had his own day - we got the day off from school - until they decided to lump all of the president's together in one holiday. Mr. Lincoln would certainly near the top, if not at the top, of virtually any list of "greatest U.S. President's" for his achievements. But to be honest, I would expect that on a trip around the internet, and especially the "blogoshpere", you will probably find more written today about Mr. Darwin.
You could start with today's Google logo.
Charles Darwin is being celebrated around the globe for his contributions to biology, the Darwin Day website lists over 650 events in 44 countries. There have been countless newspaper and magazine articles, several TV specials (3 on Science Channel tonight), some podcasts (here and here, for example), and there will be, I'm sure, thousands of blog posts (not unlike this one).
Why celebrate Darwin? I think, at least in part, it has to do with the fact that he has become the "whipping boy" of choice for the "creationist" crowd. Why not revile Charles Lyell, the geologist who told the world in the 1830's that our planet was more than 6,000 years old (a folly based on nothing more that the OT "begats" tallied up by a 17th Century bishop). It really is probably because evolutionary theory takes away the conceited view that we humans are special in the universe, something that geology really doesn't do.
Darwin didn't have everything right, but his work inspired thousands of biologists over the past 150 years (this year is also the sesquicentennial of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection). Darwin knew nothing of DNA, yet the science of genetics expands and improves upon his original ideas. Paleontologists, despite the rants and raves of creationists, have found numerous transitional fossils (extensive discussion here).
Remember: "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" (Dobzhansky, 1973).
For the rest of the day I am personally going to celebrate the wonder and awe of this world, and, in fact, the entire universe, made all the more amazing to me by the work of people like Charles Darwin. (I'd celebrate by going birding if I could, but work and the heavy snow falling right now are getting in the way.)
Happy Darwin Day!
(My rant is below the fold, if you dare)
You could start with today's Google logo.
Charles Darwin is being celebrated around the globe for his contributions to biology, the Darwin Day website lists over 650 events in 44 countries. There have been countless newspaper and magazine articles, several TV specials (3 on Science Channel tonight), some podcasts (here and here, for example), and there will be, I'm sure, thousands of blog posts (not unlike this one).
Why celebrate Darwin? I think, at least in part, it has to do with the fact that he has become the "whipping boy" of choice for the "creationist" crowd. Why not revile Charles Lyell, the geologist who told the world in the 1830's that our planet was more than 6,000 years old (a folly based on nothing more that the OT "begats" tallied up by a 17th Century bishop). It really is probably because evolutionary theory takes away the conceited view that we humans are special in the universe, something that geology really doesn't do.
Darwin didn't have everything right, but his work inspired thousands of biologists over the past 150 years (this year is also the sesquicentennial of the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection). Darwin knew nothing of DNA, yet the science of genetics expands and improves upon his original ideas. Paleontologists, despite the rants and raves of creationists, have found numerous transitional fossils (extensive discussion here).
Remember: "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution" (Dobzhansky, 1973).
For the rest of the day I am personally going to celebrate the wonder and awe of this world, and, in fact, the entire universe, made all the more amazing to me by the work of people like Charles Darwin. (I'd celebrate by going birding if I could, but work and the heavy snow falling right now are getting in the way.)
Happy Darwin Day!
(My rant is below the fold, if you dare)
Organizations like Answers in Genesis and their "Creation
Museum" (who I refuse to link to), who try to tell people that
dinosaurs and humans lived side-by-side in the Garden of Eden (they
have a dinosaur with a saddle on it), are liars in the worst possible
sense. PZ Myers had a post yesterday
linking to an article that, among other crazy notions, tried to say
that chimps didn't have vestigal appendixes like us humans - a complete
and total prevarication. The other one that makes me crazy is the "I
ain't descended from no monkey". No you're not. But you, modern
monkeys, all of the apes, and the rest of the primates share a common ancestor. Just get used to the idea. It is a fact and anyone who tells you otherwise is simply lying.
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