Speaker:
Dr John van Wyhe

Synopsis:
It is widely believed that Charles Darwin avoided publishing his theory of evolution for 20 years. Many explanations have been proposed to identify Darwin’s reasons or motives for doing so. This talk demonstrates that Darwin’s delay is a recent belief for which there is no clear evidence, and indeed is overwhelmingly contradicted by the historical evidence. It is also shown that Darwin’s belief in evolution was not a secret before publication. Instead of a man afraid of his secret theory being revealed to his prejudiced contemporaries, it is demonstrated that Darwin was understandably very busy and began his species book when he had completed work in hand, just as he had intended all along. This talk therefore rewrites a fundamental chapter in the story of Darwin’s life and work as usually told.

For enquiries, please contact:

Mr Ambert Ang
Phone: +65  65162711
Email: DBS_outreach@nus.edu.sg