transmutation diarymockingbirds darwin collected on the galapagos islands are going on display. it...

Transformation Diary 1www.darwin200.org November 2008

TRANSMUTATION DIARYThe partner newsletter of www.darwin200.org November 2008


Darwin200 begins roll out

Darwin200 has grown to include more than 100 partnerorganisations in the United Kingdom who taken together areinvolved in more than 350 projects – from books, theatre piecesand exhibitions, to talks, art commissions and TV programmes.This tally is from what is currently known to the Darwin200secretariat, but we still await details of plans from many partners.

Over November and December, a number of large organisationsincluding the British Council will be launching their plans for theyear. Meanwhile Darwin: Big Idea, Big Exhibition has opened atthe Natural History Museum and you will we hope have alreadynoted how well this has worked in raising attention to the muchwider programme of activity planned by partners around the UK.These sorts of opportunity allow the secretariat to re-instigateproactive contact with the media and provide updates onDarwin200 partner plans.

Meanwhile the number of events listed on www.darwin200.orgevents pages has shot up to over 130 entries so thank you toeveryone who has uploaded details recently. To those partnerswho haven’t yet added their events, please do so as soon aspossible as we are asking journalists to look at, and promote, thepages (See advice to partners in Helping us help you p10).

Darwin200 partner launchplans

Bath Royal Literary andScientific Institutionlaunched their Darwin andBeyond programme on 14November 2008. They haveplanned more than 50 eventsincluding three exhibitions andDarwin-themed talks on science,philosophy, literature and thevisual arts. Seewww.brlsi.org/darwin2009/devents.html.

British Council – Darwin Nowwill be launched at a VIP event atthe Royal Institution of GreatBritain on 24 November 2008.www.britishcouncil.org/science-darwin.htm

Cambridge Darwin 2009Festival bookings open to thepublic on 24 November 2008.To register and book tickets forthe week-long programmepacked full of talks, debates,exhibitions, and performancesduring July 2009, please visitwww.darwin2009.cam.ac.uk/festival/

Shrewsbury Festival – DiscoverDarwin bicentennial eventsprogramme will be launched on28 November 2008. Celebrationshave already begun and willcontinue until November 2009.See the Discover Darwin websiteatwww.discoverdarwin.co.uk/celebrate-darwin-with-us/


Now and coming soon

ExhibitionsDarwin: Big Idea, Big Exhibition is now open at the NaturalHistory Museum until 19 April 2009. The successful launchreception attended by the Rt Hon Barbara Follett Minister ofCulture took place on 11 November. For the first time twomockingbirds Darwin collected on the Galapagos Islands aregoing on display. It was these birds that gave Darwin his firstclue to the transmutation of species, not finches as commonlythought. More about the exhibition

Charles Darwin of Gower Street is an exhibition that opened inSeptember in the Main Library of University College London.Items from the Library’s Special Collections are on display inhonour of Darwin, who lived in a house on the site now occupiedby UCL's Darwin Building from 1839–1842, just over two yearsafter his return from HMS Beagle's second voyage. It is openuntil 31 January and a digital version will be available throughthe Library's Exhibitions Online website.

Darwin and the Story of Evolution is opening at the BritishLibrary from 10 December – 22 March 2009. The exhibitionexplores how evolutionary thinking developed by comparingearly ideas on evolution and creation with the revolutionarytheories of Darwin and his contemporaries and their subsequentlegacy in the twentieth century. The exhibition will launch with aTalkScience discussion on 10 December by Dr Bill Hanage(Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, ImperialCollege) who will introduce a debate on how natural selectionleads to the virulence of the diseases we know, the emergenceof new ones and how it might affect the future of both.

Talks

Discussing Darwin: CanScience Ignore Faith?An audience with ProfessorMichael Reiss, the ReverendMalcolm Brown andDr Christopher Lyal28 November 2008, the NaturalHistory Museumwww.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/special-events/discussing-darwin/index.html

What do we now know aboutthe causes of Evolution?By Professor BrianCharlesworth, FRS16 December 2008, Bath RoyalLiterary and Scientific Institutionwww.brlsi.org/diary.htm

Infectious disease: what canevolution do for us?By Dr Bill Hanage10 December 2008, BritishLibrarywww.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/events/talkscience.html

Discussing Darwin:His Sacred CauseAn audience with ProfessorsJames Moore and AdrianDesmond, Darwin biographers.Just what did so motivate Darwinthat he laboured through illness todevelop his ideas?(see book review).30 January 2008, the NaturalHistory Museumwww.nhm.ac.uk/visit-us/whats-on/special-events/discussing-darwin/index.html


Retracing Darwin’s footstepsA number of locations around the UK are developing Darwinwalks. In Shrewsbury, there is a virtual Darwin Walk around thetown which includes the church where Darwin was christened,his school and the Shrewsbury Museum and Art Gallery. Afterdrinking a toast to Darwin on 12 February 2009, Jon King,Darwin Festival Director, will be leading a walk around the town.See www.darwinshrewsbury.org/darwinwalk.

To celebrate Darwin’s 199th birthday in February 2008, NatureNetwork published a London Darwin Walk, which takes in theAdmiralty Building, the Athenaeum Club, the Royal Society, theLinnean Society and Upper Gower Street where Darwin oncelived. Seehttp://network.nature.com/hubs/london/blog/2008/02/12/darwin%E2%80%99s-london .

In Wales, Snowdonia National Park are working with BrianRosen, a coral expert at the Natural History Museum, to developtrails or information points based on Darwin’s geological fieldtrips to North Wales before he set off on the Beagle voyage.Darwin visited various locations with Adam Sedgwick to studythe geology. He also claimed to have walked in a straight linefrom Capel Curig to Abermaw in a day. Continued over…

View towards the Carneddau range from Cwm Idwal, which Darwin visited on 14 August 1831and after which he made his way along the pass to Capel Curig. © Brian Rosen

Angels and InsectsEthical fashion companyMakepiece has developed a newethical knitwear collectioninspired by AS Byatt’s Angels andInsects the controversial romanceand film charts the return of apoor Victorian naturalist toEngland after his studies ofinsects in the Amazon (was itbased on Wallace or Bates onewonders?). Their collection forspring 2009 evokes invertebratestructures: gossamer fine mohairruched into shrugs, delicatelytraced butterfly inspired capes,bee delighting foxglove-flutedruffles and lace panelled wingmotifs, all made in Yorkshire fromsustainable low-impact materials.They plan to launch the collectionon Darwin’s bicentenary and areinterested in discussing potentialcollaborations with Darwin200partners. For more informationcontact Beate Kubitz,[email protected]

Carapace cape with foxglove ruffle skirt©makepiece


Continued…

The Darwin 2009 Festival in Cambridge is developing a DarwinWalking Tour: About the Town. The 16-stop tour follows Baker’smap of 1830 to locate where Darwin lived and where he metfellow students for study and pleasure.

The village of Maer, near Stoke-on-Trent, is the location of theWedgwood family home where Emma Darwin spent herchildhood. Charles and Emma married in St Peter’s Church.Local experts are planning a series of guided walks in the area.

To kill save a mockingbird

The original specimens of the mockingbirds collected by Darwinand Fitzroy on the Galapagos are playing a special role inhelping conserve the critically endangered species. It was theslight differences between the South American mainland speciesand the three species of various Galapagos Islands that ledDarwin to conclude species might not be inviolate but mutable,and that geographical isolation might be a critical factor inallowing local populations to vary and eventually to speciate.Sadly, the Floreana mockingbird is now extinct on the islandwhere Darwin found it and just a few dozen breeding birdssurvive on two small outlying ones. The Charles DarwinFoundation, the University of Zurich, the GalapagosConservation Trust and the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trustare working to try and reintroduce the species to the island ofFloreana. In order to assess their former genetic diversity, theNatural History Museum has taken DNA samples from theoriginal specimens collected by Darwin, which will help select thebest specimens to re-establish a new breeding colony. Darwin’sresearch on the origin of species goes full circle, hopefullytowards preserving the future of perhaps the most importantspecies in the history of modern biology. Full story

Beagle project formspartnership with NASA

Plans of the Beagle Trust to builda replica of Fitzroy’s HMS Beaglehave take a huge boost with thenews that the NASA wants tocombine observations of oceanalgal blooms from theinternational space station withthe ocean sampling and DNSplankton assays proposed as partof the research mission for theBeagle in 2010, InternationalYear of Biodiversity and beyond.

The trust still seeks financialsupport but remains optimisticthat the ship could be build inMilford Haven docks in Wales tomeet the target deadline.Beagle projectEvening Standard Article

ACE

The Arts Council is being offeredrecognition as formal supportersof Darwin200. The council hasprovided grants directly to severalpartner organisations including,Shrewsbury Folk Festival andShrewsbury Council, Full BeamVisual Theatre, Desperate Menand Bent Architect. It alsoprovides organisational funding toseveral partners including PolkaTheatre, Rambert Dance and theBristol Development Partnership.The council will use its ownnetworks to help raise awarenessof Darwin200 and encourageengagement from others in thearts.


Darwin’s Sacred Cause

So you think you know all there is to know about Darwin?Well this new work by Adrian Desmond and James Moore isgoing to make you think again. Written with the intensescholarship and authority to be expected from these authors,they have succeeded in revealing a completely reconsideredDarwin. The new light has been thrown by considering Darwin’sdisgust for slavery (Darwin’s sacred cause). Drawing on a wealthof new evidence, archival sources and insights, this work re-examines his life’s work in the light of his abolitionist heritage,with its belief in the full humanity of all peoples. The result isinescapable – nothing less than the restoration of Darwin’shumanitarianism, previously tarnished by atheistic efforts tohijack his reputation as well as creationist efforts to smear him. Ifyou doubted his convictions around the usurping of his ideas forSocial Darwinist ideals then this is the real Darwin and you mustread it.

The only problem is that it is not on general release until 29January 2009 – so pre-order your copy now.Published by Allen LaneISBN-13: 978-1846140358

New books

Evolutionary Writings: CharlesDarwin edited by James Secord(Oxford University Press,November 2008). The bookexplores key chapters from theJournal of Researches, Origin ofSpecies, and Descent of Man,plus Darwin's autobiography,and also includes responses fromDarwin's contemporaries, whichvividly reveal its impact at thetime.ISBN-13: 9780199208630

Natural Selection and Beyond:The Intellectual Legacy ofAlfred Russel Wallace edited byCharles H Smith and GeorgeBeccaloni (Oxford UniversityPress, November 2008). Twentyscientists and historians reflect onWallace's collaboration withDarwin on natural selection, andon the vast range of his othercontributions to science.ISBN-13: 9780199239160

On the Origin of SpeciesCharles Darwin edited by GillianBeer (Oxford University Press,November 2008). A new editionof the Oxford World's ClassicsOrigin that considers the work inits setting 150 years ago, and inthe light of today's debates onintelligent design.ISBN-13: 9780199219223

Charles Darwin – For the Loveof Science edited by AndrewKelly and Melanie Kelly. This is alarge-format, heavily illustratedcollection of speciallycommissioned essays onDarwin's life and the impact of hiswork. Contributions include BrianDolan, Jonathan Hodge, MarcusWaithe, A C Grayling, KeithWard, George Dyson and DavidCatling.ISBN-13: 9780995074226


Lost World Read 2009

The Lost World Read 2009 will be launched on 30 January. Theproject encourages literacy around the Darwin200 celebrations throughdistributing copies of Conan Doyle’s The Lost World – an explorationof evolutionary ideas and geological time, along with a new graphicbiography of Charles Darwin. The project now has distribution partnersin Bristol, Shrewsbury, Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Glasgow, City ofWestminster, Hampshire and southwest England libraries.

Contact Andrew Kelly [email protected]

By the hair of his chinny chin chinThe inclusion of Etty’s Box in the Darwin: Big Idea, Big Exhibitiontells of a sad story. In this box are mementos gathered by Etty,his daughter. Along with shell specimens from the Beaglevoyage and other memorabilia are samples of Darwin’s hair.Collecting locks of hair was a Victorian tradition, but the letter inwhich the hair was found – recently discovered in the attic byDarwin’s great-great grandson Randal Keynes Continued over…

More new books

99% ape – How Evolution AddsUp edited by Jonathan Silvertown(Natural History Museum/OpenUniversity, November 2008).A comprehensive and fullyillustrated introduction toevolution and the latest thinkingon the subject. In this bookleading experts explain thisfundamental yet often complexsubject and guide the generalreader through all the latestevidence.ISBN-13: 9780565092313www.nhmshop.co.uk/all-books/99-ape-how-evolution-adds-up/

The Voyage of the Beagle –Darwin's ExtraordinaryAdventure Aboard Fitzroy'sFamous Survey Ship by JamesTaylor (Anova Books, October2008). A highly illustrated traveljournal weaving together thevarious strands of the Beaglestory to produce an engaging andhighly informative read to appealto anyone from scientists to artlovers and maritime historians.ISBN-13: 9781591149200

Mrs Charles Darwin’s RecipeBook illustrated and revised byLady Dusha Bateson and WeslieJaneway (Glitterrati Incorporated,October 2008). The cookerynotebook compiled by EmmaDarwin, with recipes and personalanecdotes about life in the Darwinhousehold. The authors havetested the recipes and exploredthe ingredients and cookingmethods of the day, with Victorianbotanical illustrations and imagesof the cooked dishes.ISBN-13: 9780980155730


Continued…

– tells a different story. Darwin’s family had expected him to beburied in the local cemetery but on his death his bodywas whisked away as the great and the good decided that thisgreatest Briton should be buried in Westminster Abbey. Darwin’sdaughters, in dealing with their loss, found this hair from hisbeard as, Etty wrote ‘Found after his death in my father'spapers’. The hair was kept alongside more conventional locksfrom the other family members also kept in the box.

Darwin beard hair image © the natural History Museum

Darwin and the arts

Darwin, Art and the Search for Origins

Anthropologischer unterricht Gabriel Von Max © Shirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt

A new exhibition will shortly open at the Shirn Kunsthalle inFrankfurt, Germany exploring how artists in Europe and NorthAmerica were influenced by Darwin’s work soon after hepublished On the Origin of Species and into the twentiethcentury. They organised a successful Darwin symposium inSeptember that was attended by Darwin scholars from aroundthe world. The exhibition, curated by Dr Pamela Kort, will runfrom 5 February – 3 May 2009. For more information, pleasecontact [email protected].

Darwin and the arts

Mister Darwin songWriter and composer DavidHaines has composed scienceoratorios that have beenperformed at science festivalsand other venues across the UKand US. One of his songs iscalled Mister Darwin – thecomplete story of Charles Darwinin five verses and a coda. Themusic and lyrics are available foranyone to download fromwww.singtastic.com an onlineresource of David’s songs andaccompanying materials. You canalso download the introduction,singalong and tutor videos to helpteach the song. For moreinformation, contact DavidHaines, [email protected].

EndangeredYouth Music Theatre auditionyoung people aged 11–21 yearsold, across the UK to take part ina two-week workshop to rehearseand perform new pieces of music.Last summer they performed apiece called Endangeredcomposed by Jonathan Cooperfeaturing different charactersincluding a spix’s macaw and atree frog. They have performed atevening receptions and are keento perform again. Please contactJosh Hill, [email protected] formore information.

Evolving WordsElizabeth Lynch, with fundingfrom the Wellcome Trust, isrunning a poetry project for 14–25year olds inspired by Darwin'swork. This will take place during2009 with six regional partners inLiverpool, Manchester,Birmingham, Plymouth,Cambridge and Edinburgh andwill contribute to their Darwin200celebrations. As well asperformances, an onlineanthology will be produced andfilms for YouTube. ContactElizabeth Lynch,[email protected].


Darwin-inspired art in ViennaIn Austria, English artist and poet Martin Huxter is curating anexhibition of new work by nine international artists inspired byDarwin and his theories. The exhibition will include variousmedia, such as painting, sculpture, photography, documentaryfilm and animation. There will also be a poetry performance inEnglish and German exploring the evolution of language. Theexhibition will open in Stadtmuseum, St Pölten, in February2009, and will tour to Künstlerhaus Museum in Vienna inSeptember 2009. For more information contact Martin Huxter,[email protected].

Dreams of Science: the life of Charles Darwin in the RussianimmigrationOpens at Wolverhampton Art Gallery 29 November – 17 January2009. The exhibition of loans from the State Darwin Museum inMoscow, depicts scenes from the lives of 18th and 19th centuryscience pioneers who contributed to the theory of evolution andinfluenced Charles Darwin, alongside scenes from Darwin's ownlife, and includes the work of M.Yesuchevskii and V.Yevstafiev.

Don’t forget about Wallace

With Darwin Year 2009 on our doorstep don’t forget about hisco-theorist Alfred Russel Wallace. The Linnean Society will havea mini conference on 22 November 2008. The five speakersinclude Wallace biographer Prof Peter Raby (Univ Cambridge),and Wallace bibliographer Prof Charles Smith (USA). Themeeting will be chaired by Prof Aubrey Manning (UnivEdinburgh), presenter of the BBC's acclaimed series Earth Story,and the guest of honour will be comedian Bill Bailey. The eventwill also launch the book Natural Selection and Beyond: TheIntellectual Legacy of Alfred Russel Wallace, edited by CharlesSmith and George Beccaloni, published by Oxford UniversityPress (see p6). The conference is organised by the Scientific &Medical Network for more seewww.scimednet.org/pdf/wallace_v5.pdf

Darwin commemorative coinThe Perth Mint in Australia hasproduced a silver commemorativecoin to celebrate Darwin’sbicentenary. The design includesa coloured image of him as ayoung man and an engravedimage of him in his sixties anddepicts his signature and thebicentenary date.

The coin, made of 1oz of puresilver, is legal tender of thePolynesian Island of Tuvaluwhere the Royal Society sent anexpedition in 1896 to testDarwin’s theory of coral islandformation. The coin is packagedin a presentation case and costsAus $75 plus shipping. Seewww.perthmint.com.au or contactTina Kercher,[email protected]

OU Darwin websiteThe Open University Darwinwebsite is now live atwww.openuniversity.co.uk/darwinwith information about Darwinand his theory and related OUcourses. The main attractor to thesite is a fun face-morph toolcalled Devolve Me into which youcan upload a photo of yourselfand travel back along theevolutionary timeline to see howyou may have looked 3.7 millionyears ago. You can also enter theprize draw for a copy of the newbook 99% Ape: How EvolutionAdds Up.


Helping us to help youDarwin200 media releases are being presented at keyopportunities to specific media. Recent presentations havetaken place for

Visit Britain – international representatives meeting in Edinburgh, BBC Television Centre – Inside Track for BBC planners, Communicate Bristol – for environmental organisations Science Festival Directors in Europe hosted by Mosi and the

British Council in Manchester Darwin:Big Idea, Big Exhibition launch – science, culture and

general media

Do please take a look at the current versions of the segmentedmedia releases on the Media information page of the website(www.darwin200.org/media-information.html ) and email KatieEdwards ([email protected]) if your events are not listedor any details need amending. Please also take the time toupload your event details to the database atwww.darwin200.org/events/index.asp .

Generally we plan quarterly advance announcements formedia interest so recently we have been focused on profilingactivities for the spring and birthday period. We will similarlythen use the activities around the birthday period to raiseawareness of plans for the summer and autumn. Thesecretariat needs time to sort and record the information wereceive, and media organisations need time for their editorialand production cycles. Consequently to be proactive with yourmaterial you need to get it to us at least two months before youplan to host the activity.

Events can be included in the database online on Darwin200 atanytime, though the earlier you add your organisations detailsthe more exposure they will get. The database is also theeasiest route for you to keep your information with us up-to-date. It can also be accessed anytime by casual browsers, orusers of the RSS feed. The secretariat can only shareinformation that it knows about – we rely on you.Queries to Katie Edwards [email protected]

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transmutation diarymockingbirds darwin collected on the galapagos islands are going on display. it...

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