Fun Facts Friday: On the Origin of Species

On 24 November, 1642 Charles Darwin published his seminal work On the Origin of Species which changed the way we view evolution.

Buy The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition from Amazon.com*

Fun Facts about On the Origin of Species:

1. Charles Darwin voyaged on the HMS Beagle providing him with the ability to research and come up with his theory of evolution. The voyage ended in 1836, but Darwin presented his theory 20 years later, in 1858 and only because naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was about to announce a similar theory.
2. Darwin felt comfortable presenting his theory because in the 1850s meritocracy and freethinking allowed him to have a better reception of his theory.
3. Originally, Darwin’s book called Natural Selection came in at least three volumes. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life was actually an abstract of  Natural Selection and more accessible.
4. When first published, On the Origin of Species challenged those who took the Bible literally. Even during time, however, many Christians believe that the Bible simply couldn’t be all true.
5. Before Darwin, biologists were considered amateur scientists, and most of them were. After he became known and respected, the study of biology started to be done by serious professionals.
6. The two major points of the book were that:
   1. Species were not created separately
   2. Natural selection was responsible for much of the change.
7. On the Origin of Species was not the first book to introduce readers to evolution. The 1844 book Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by Robert Chambers (published anonymously) brought that idea to the public. However, Mr. Chambers never showed a way in which evolution could happen.
8. Darwin, on the other hand, supported his theory from facts drawn from many other disciplines.  For example the division of labor in industry to s how nature would favor variants exploiting a niche aspect to survive, diverging immediately like a worker would do.
9. During his lifetime, Charles Darwin saw six editions of this book being printed. The sixth edition’s title was changed to The Origin of Species and was the first one to use the word “evolution”.
10. The book was translated into, at least, 28 languages and that’s just during Darwin’s lifetime.

Buy The Origin Of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition from Amazon.com*

Zohar – Man of la Book
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account, the money is usually spent on books

Sources:

On the Origin of Species | Britannica

10 Things You May Not Know About Charles Darwin | history.com

The Origin of Species facts for kids | kiddle.co