harikumar1964's blog

On this day in 1809, the man -who redefined the origin of life in the world forever with his theory on Natural selection- was born. His was the first comprehensive treatise on Natural selection and evolution. His book “On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection” based on his experiences in his trip aboard HMS Beagle between 1831- 1836 was published in 1859 creating an upheaval in the world. It may be that this process of natural selection was not really a spark originated in his brain. This theory was in circulation even before him, but his journey aboard HMS beagle collecting botanical samples and his visit of Galapagos Islands and seeing species nowhere else seen- but perfectly well adapted to the environment of Galapagos- an archipelago of volcanic islands in Pacific ocean separated from South America by almost 1000 Kms- that gave him compelling evidence for his theory. This separation made the flora and fauna unique in the island. And this provided the first visible example of Natural selection. Darwin completed the work on natural selection in 1844, but kept his research paper locked for fear of angry  reaction from Church and believers. And this would have remained locked till his death had he not got the letter from his junior Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858 seeking his opinion on a  theory similar to his own based on his separate studies in the East. This sounded alarm bells for Darwin and he without wasting anymore time published his works in 1859. The scientific world received his theory with Surprise, awe and consternation. People who till date were believing that we came into being by the Intelligent design of a supreme being suddenly had a big jolt. But Unlike Galileo and Copernicus, even though he faced criticism and outrage from the church, he was never persecuted. His second book “ the Descent of Man” was even more stunningly controversial but since the world was already familiar with the theory, this book was received with less of an outrage.

Contrary to popular belief, Darwin never coined the term Survival of the fittest in his book. It was coined later by someone else. Even after  150 years of publication, concepts of  his theory is still not understood fully. Even today we see people arguing – if we descended from monkeys, why then are monkeys still around- all monkeys should have become men. – This is a sheer case of lack of understanding. Natural selection only proposes organisms change to adapt well to the changing environment, and those which adapt well has a better chance of survival. So it  is not that monkeys are becoming humans. Some 6-7 million years ago, some ancestral  apelike forefathers due to compulsion from their environment in which they lived, gradually evolved into homo category and gradually evolved into homo sapiens may be some 200000 years ago.

Despite partial acknowledgement by Vatican, even today people in US and many other countries still don’t accept this theory and are compelling their governments to teach in science class the concept of Intelligent Design of Bible along with Natural selection. As late as in 2008, Ben Stein starrer film Expelled: No Intelligence allowed tried to propagate the idea of Intelligent design and the evils of  natural selection. This is how misunderstood the concepts are even today.

Charles Darwin may not be an Einstein as far as the originality of the concept is concerned. But definitely his works changed the way we understood the biological world and the research that followed helped understand our position in the world vis-à-vis other animals. This is even more relevant in the times of Global warming and ecological disasters as a direct outcome of human actions.

I salute this great naturalist on his 200^th Birth Anniversary.

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