Darwin and Modern Science

Charles Darwin read Malthus for amusement—and, after fifteen months of inquiry, a thought struck him: favourable variations might survive, while unfavourable ones vanished. Could that be the key to the origin of new species?

Published in 1909, A. C. Seward’s collection gathers essays marking the centenary of Darwin’s birth and fifty years since The Origin of Species appeared. Its opening timeline traces a patient course from the young naturalist’s voyage on the Beagle to the theory he spent decades developing; the essays that follow look at Darwin’s debts to earlier thinkers and the reach of his ideas across science and beyond. In an age still weighing what natural selection can explain, how did Darwin’s work reshape the questions scientists—and others—were asking?

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