worldwide celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin

On Thursday, February 12, 2009, there will be a worldwide celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin. His insight that all biological species have evolved from common ancestors through natural selection, first discussed in his monumental book, "On the Origin of Species" published in 1859, & then expanded upon 12 years later in "The Descent of Man," has become the cornerstone of modern biology. The diversity of species and the continuing mutations that are observable today, especially on the scale of microscopic organisms, find a clear, simple and powerful unified explanation. Simply put, modern biology would be totally incomprehensible without Darwin's enormous contribution.
The concept of progress was very much in the air at the close of the 19th century, which paved the way for ready acceptance of theories of evolution by biologists. However, in contrast to his peers, one striking characteristic of Darwin's view of evolution is that evolution is not purposeful or that it is not directed towards any particular end. This clash with the dominant prejudices of a Judeo-Christian tradition hindered full acceptance of the Darwin theory of evolution for many years—his main ideas only began to dominate biology in the 1930s.

Celebrations of Darwin birthday and discoveries will take place all through the Bay Area. At Revolution Books a discussion of The Science of Evolution will be held on Tuesday. The Essig Museum of Entomology at UC Berkeley will open its doors to public for tours on February 12. Lectures at UC Davis on Feb 23 will discuss The Evolution-Intelligent Design controversy. In Fresno, A Faculty panel will invite questions from the audience regarding Darwin’s ideas and the societal impact of evolutionary biology.