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Charles Darwin: Evolutionary Thinking
17 Aug 2009  - 30 May 2010

150 years ago, Charles Darwin published a theory so ground-breaking that it challenged everything people believed about life on Earth.

2009 is the year of Darwin and marks a double celebration – not only is it 200 years since the scientist’s birth, but also 150 years since The Origin of Species was first published.

Voyaging around the world, Darwin had made detailed observations of turtles, orchids, pigeons, gigantic fossils, iguanas, blue-footed boobies, barnacles, beetles and beyond. All the evidence from his research convinced him that living things were not fixed in their creation by God but had instead evolved in response to their environment – over millions of years.

Evolution through natural selection challenged humans’ understanding of the order of life and belief in their own superiority over animals. It shook the foundations of Christianity, testing biblical ideas of the age of the Earth and God’s creation of all living things. Darwin’s theory has shaped scientific thinking ever since.

Discover the details of Darwin and his determinations for yourself when you visit Charles Darwin: Evolutionary Thinking.

On display at the Otago Museum until May 2010.