A life in Science

Darwin needs no introduction. His theory of evolution by natural selection is taught to all schoolchildren (yep, it was in my course too, Grade VIII, IIRC; what I learned is a moot point though). Coming back, recently I read a biography of Darwin by John Gribbin and Michael White. It was a good, informative, albeit a bit dry in places, read. Darwin, born into a wealthy family, was an undirected youth. The attempts of his father to push him in medicine, and later theology, failed. It was the trip abroad HMS Beagle that really gave him direction (His official title was as Ship's naturalist, but the real reason he was taken was that the earlier Captain of the ship had committed suicide while on a similar voyage, and the current Captain wanted some intelligent company to preserve his sanity). He first made his reputation in Geology (which was the hot science of his day), and it was his findings that really established Lyell's theories in Britain. He developed the theory evolution relatively early, but sat over it for nearly 20 years, before finally publishing 'The origin of species' (The full name was 'An abstract of an essay on the origin of species and variation through natural selection'. Yes it's quite mouthful) in 1859. Alfred Russell Wallace came up with similar conclusions at about the same time, but in a rare delightful incident, Lyell was successful in having both agree to a joint announcement. Science is full of disputes over priority, the most famous being between Leibnitz and Newton, the independent inventors of Calculus, so this came as a real surprise. Darwin was not an eloquent speaker, so the task of defending his theory fell to his supporters (T.H.Huxley, also known as 'Darwin's Bulldog', being the most famous. It was him who coined the term 'agnostic' btw. And a magazine launched to spread word of the new science by Huxley with others became 'Nature' in 1869. Check this to see how it stands among the competition :). But Darwin was far from being a secluded soul, toiling alone, as is seen from his successful investments, and the way he planned for supporters. Born a believer, his faith slowly eroded, and it was the death of his daughter Annie which turned him into an ardent atheist. He was wrong about quite a few things, like the nature of heredity (he believed in something called pangensis), and the origin of human races, but most of his work stands as tall as ever today.

The book has a few downsides, the flow of narrative jumps to and fro in time, and I was able to spot a few unnecessary repetitions. Also there is very little on the theory of evolution itself, I had expected a more thorough discussion. Still, worth a read!