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A complete scientific biography of Darwin that takes into account the latest research findings, both published and unpublished, on the life of this remarkable man. Considered the first book to thoroughly emphasize Darwin's research in various fields of endeavor, what he did, why he did it, and its implications for his time and ours.
Rather than following a strictly chronological approach – a narrative choice that characteristically offers an ascent to On the Origin of Species (1859) with a rapid decline in interest following its publication and reception – Darwin's Sciences stresses the diversity and full extent of Darwin's career by providing a series of chapters centering on various intellectual topics and scientific specializations that interested Darwin throughout his life. Authored by academics with years of teaching and discussing Darwin, Darwin's Sciences is suited to any biologist who is interested in the deeper inplications of Darwin's research.
Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi
1 Introduction 1
2 Darwin the Geologist 12
3 Darwin the Zoologist 44
4 Darwin the Botanist 93
5 Darwin the Social Scientist 152
6 Coda: Darwin, Worms, and the World 208
Bibliography 218
Index 237
Duncan M. Porter received his BA and MA from Stanford and PhD from Harvard, all in Biological Sciences. A Postdoctoral Assistantship at Stanford studying the flora of the Galapagos Islands gave him a life-long interest in Charles Darwin. This led him to follow Darwin’s footsteps in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Ecuador, Chile, and New Zealand, and wish that he could see more of the places the great man visited. Along the way, Porter was on the faculties of the University of San Francisco, Washington University, and Virginia Tech; collected and wrote about plants from Canada to Chile, Morocco, and Oman; worked at the Missouri Botanical Garden, Smithsonian Institution, and National Science Foundation; became a Fellow of the Linnean Society, Clare Hall, University of Canterbury, and American Association for the Advancement of Science; wrote many pages about Darwin; and became Senior Editor and Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project at Cambridge University. He is Professor Emeritus of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech.
Peter W. Graham’s scholarly interests center on 19th-century British literature and culture, with particular emphasis on the works and lives of Charles Darwin, Jane Austen, and Lord Byron. Educated at Davidson College and Duke University, he has been a Lilly Post-doctoral Fellow, a Mellon Post-Doctoral Fellow, and, since 1978, a faculty member at Virginia Tech, where he’s served as Cutchins Professor of English. Peter is Director of International Relations for the Messolonghi Byron Research Center in Greece, Vice President of the Byron Society of America, a Life Member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, and a member of several editorial boards. He is author of Jane Austen & Charles Darwin- Naturalists and Novelists, Don Juan and Regency England, and other books, he also co-edited The Portable Darwin with Duncan.
