Charles Darwin: The Man and his Influence (Cambridge Science Biographies) - Softcover

Bowler, Peter J.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521566681 ISBN 13: 9780521566681

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Upon publication, Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species excited much debate and controversy, challenging the foundations of Christianity, nonetheless underpinning the Victorian concept of progress. It still evokes powerful and contradictory responses today. Peter Bowler's study of Darwin's life, first published in 1990, combines biography and cultural history. Emphasizing in particular the impact of Darwin's work, he shows how Darwin's contemporaries were unable to appreciate precisely those aspects of his thinking that are considered scientifically important today. He also demonstrates that Darwin was a product of his time, but he also transcended it by creating an idea capable of being exploited by twentieth-century scientists and intellectuals who had very different values from his own.

About this title

Book Description:

Combining biography and cultural history, this study of the controversial Darwin's life and influence shows how his contemporaries were unable to appreciate precisely those aspects of his thinking considered scientifically important today.

From the Back Cover:

There can be no doubt of Charles Darwin's major role in the development of modern science and thought. Darwin has become an almost mythical figure in the emergence of modern culture; yet he was by no means the first person to publish evolutionary ideas and his theory of natural selection was not generally accepted by his contemporaries.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0521566681
• ISBN 13: 9780521566681
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 264