Darwinian Myths: Re-Reading the Origin of Species

Jim Endersby, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Sussex.

One hundred and fifty years after it was written, Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" continues to sell, to be discussed, attacked and defended. Among the many myths that surrounds Darwin's book is the idea that it caused a war between science and the church. Jim Endersby will demolish this and some of the other myths that surround the Origin, by looking at exactly what Darwin did and didn't say, and at the way his contemporaries reacted to the book.

Jim Endersby is the prize-winning author of "Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the Practices of Victorian Science" , "A Guinea Pig's History of Biology" , and editor of a new scholarly edition of "On the Origin of Species" published by Cambridge University Press.

The lecture is at 4:00 P.M. on Thursday, November 19, 2009 in Room B26 of Stiteler Hall, which is located on 37th Street between Locust Walk and Walnut Street.