Commemorating Darwin: Scientific Memory and the Politics of Evolution (Sci & Culture in the Nineteenth Century) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0822948931 ISBN 13: 9780822948933

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2026

Synopsis

Since Charles Darwin’s death in 1882, people across the world have used forms of commemoration and memorialization to celebrate, and at times critique, various aspects of Darwin’s scientific, social, and cultural impact. Commemorative events, activities, and publications marking major anniversaries of Darwin’s birth and death, of the publication of On the Origin of Species (1859) and other works, and of the Beagle voyage, have been occasions for the casting and recasting of narratives of the history of evolutionary science, spurs to new historical research, and episodes in the public legitimation of contemporary scientific developments. They have engendered much discussion and debate about relations between evolution and religious belief as well as political questions related to issues of nation-building and social development. This volume examines these commemorative activities in global perspective, exploring the complexity of meanings of Darwin and his science to different social, cultural, scientific, and national groups, from the moment of Darwin’s death up to the recent sesquicentennial of The Descent of Man (1871) in 2021.

About this title

About the Author

Joel Barnes (Editor)
Joel Barnes is honorary research fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland.

Ian Hesketh (Editor)
Ian Hesketh is associate professor of history in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland.

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© 2026 University of Pittsburgh Press. All rights reserved. Not for distribution. Provided by the publisher University of Pittsburgh Press for review copy purposes only.

From the Introduction

On the morning of Tuesday, August 15, 2023, amid a carefully cultivated media spectacle, the historic three-masted Dutch schooner Oosterschelde embarked from Sutton Harbour in Plymouth, on En-gland’s south coast. Heading southwest toward the Canary Islands, the ship commenced a two-year, round-the-world voyage following a simplified version of the route sailed by HMS Beagle in 1831–1836. The vessel was the centrepiece of Darwin200, an environmental conservation project that aimed to “reconnect people across the planet with nature to build a more sustainable future.” Stopping at almost all of the major ports visited by the Beagle, the Darwin200 project took on board around one hundred conservationists aged eighteen to twenty-five for a week each, helping them build leadership skills and providing a global platform to share research on endangered and threatened species and habitats.1 The project is one of the latest commemorations of the life and work of Charles Darwin (1809–1882), here placed in service of a mission of environmental conservation and planetary stewardship, reflecting Darwin’s significance to our under-standings of the natural world and the global reach of his scientific theories.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0822948931
• ISBN 13: 9780822948933
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 360
• Editor: Barnes Joel, Hesketh Ian