Me and Memes

We don't get along.

I almost always turn them down when they come along. So this this one of the few times I'm going to do one. I haven't written anything in a while and this meme gives me the opportunity to talk about one of the greatest figures in the history of science.

Ridger from The Greenbelt has tagged me with "the historical meme". Simple enough rules (mostly they are):1) Link to the person who tagged you.2) List 7 random/weird things about your favorite historical figure.3) Tag seven more people at the end of your blog and link to theirs.4) Let the person know they have been tagged by leaving a note on their blog.


Who Else? Charles Darwin:

1. Was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin who actually was one of a minority of intellectuals of his day who thought there was something to the idea of “evolution.” The problem was that no one could come up with a plausible mechanism by which it could occur.

2. Was headed into the clergy at the time of his trip around the world on HMS Beagle. His first try at a profession was to go to medical school (following in his father’s footsteps). His sessions watching surgery performed without the benefit of anesthesia (for the patients or for Darwin)were enough to convince him he had neither the stomach nor heart for it. His father informed him that the only occupations available to him would be law or the clergy. So he headed off to Cambridge to study for it.

3. He was so fabulously successful as the ship’s science officer, sent back so much valuable scientific data from abroad, that his career was set as a “gentleman naturalist”.

4. What he didn’t do on the voyage, including during his time on the Galapagos, was come up with the theory of evolution.

5. He was a radical abolitionist and this was only made stronger by what he saw of slavery in South America.

6. The idea of evolution really took root with him upon his return. As he sought help from a friend in identifying different species of birds he had found in the Galapagos, he found out that they were all finches with different features which he concluded (correctly) had evolved to fit the various environments of different islands.

7. Darwin was never a declared atheist, though he certainly said and wrote many things that would confirm this point of view. It is a myth that he recanted (recanted “what”?) on his deathbed.

I tag Lynet, Yinyang, BJKeefe, Slut, Kelly, Chappy and Brian. Chances are if any of you tag me back later, I'm not going to do it. So feel free to consider that when deciding.