rustyjaw Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 On Feb 12th 1809 Charles Darwin was born, Darwin Day commemorates his birth. He went on to make what is arguably the greatest discovery in the history of biology, based on his observations of the shapes and behaviors of animals around the world during his 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle. We are still unravelling the consequences of his idea, which were bolstered by the discovery of genetics by Mendel (which came before Darwin, but was largely ignored until after Dawrin) and later the discovery of DNA and it's function. It turns out that the simple idea that beings evolve leads to exceedingly complex outcomes. These have spawned various related theories of the logic of evolution, such as evolutionary game theory, sexual selection, Neural Darwinism, Reciprocal altruism, and even memes (which I still think have a ways to go to be well supported). Darwin probably had no idea where his (relatively) simple theory would lead (although he did write a lot about sexual selection, 20th science century was needed to discover it's possible mechanisms). He knew nothing of genes or DNA or game theory, which makes his discovery all the more amazing. I just wanted to share my enthusiasm for one of the great scientists of all time on his birthday. Happy Darwin Day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 You rule, Ed. Thanks for the links and reminder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishepa Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 Man, he's an old bastard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whooter Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 He doesn't look a day over 194... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Starhawk Posted February 13, 2004 Report Share Posted February 13, 2004 Cool, I had no idea today was his birthday. Thanks for the reminder, Ed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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