Statements & Essays
In this section you will find short statements, and essays that provide the
scientific rationale for celebrating Darwin, Science, and Humanity. We invite
you to send a brief statement, or an essay of 1,000 words or fewer, on this topic
to info@darwinday.org, for consideration.
Darwin's evolution is central in biology
Steven Jones
"Charles Darwin turned biology into science,
rather than stamp-collecting.
Before 1859 many clever people were hard at work on fossils, on anatomy, on
sheep-breeding and on the infinite variety of life but nobody realised that they
were all studying the same thing: evolution. Now, every piece of biological
information - from studies of the Pre-Cambrian to the new comparative anatomy
(otherwise known as molecular biology) and even to much of medicine - can be
added to the great edifice known as evolution which is so familiar to and
accepted by all biologists that they sometimes forget its central importance.
Darwin Day reminds us of its great architect, and is time to celebrate his ideas.
They place us firmly within the living world, and not above it."
Steve Jones is a highly regarded geneticist and snail biologist.
He is interested in why so much diversity exists in animals and plants: why no two individuals are
alike. Jones has been writing and lecturing about science to a general audience for
fifteen years.