On Thursday we celebrated the 200th anniversary of the birth of two remarkable men: Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln. Each in their own way had an enormous impact on history. Darwin formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection. Lincoln fought to keep a union that was being torn apart by slavery. But the parallels in their lives are deeper than their common birthday and their enormous impact.
Charles Darwin's paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, designed an abolitionist medal with the phrase "Am I not a man and a brother" on it. His maternal grandfather, Josiah Wedgewood, founded the ceramics factory in which the medal was struck.
Darwin's delight at our planet's natural riches was repeatedly poisoned by the cruelties he saw meted out to slaves. "I thank God, I shall never again visit a slave-country," he wrote at the end of the Voyage of the Beagle. (source)Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of science to a republic. In the depths of the Civil War, just a few months before the Battle of Gettysburg, he signed the Act of Incorporation that established National Academy of Sciences to address critical national issues and give advice to the federal government and the public.
[T]he Academy shall, whenever called upon by any department of the Government, investigate, examine, experiment, and report upon any subject of science or art, the actual expense of such investigations, examinations, experiments, and reports to be paid from appropriations which may be made for the purpose, but the Academy shall receive no compensation whatever for any services to the Government of the United States. (source)
Carl Safina urges us to "kill Darwin". He accuses scientists who celebrate Darwin's birth of fetishizing him and ingnoring 150 years of progress. Hardly. We celebrate his birth now and we will celebrate the 150th anniversary of his publication of the Origin this fall because of the clarity and depth of his insight. He got heredity completely wrong, and he couldn't have anticipated the ways in which his insights would be used to improve human health.
Lincoln also got a lot wrong. He favored sending slaves to Liberia, rather than allowing free African Americans to live in the United States. He didn't sign the Emancipation Proclamation until well into the Civil War and did so at least as much for tactical military advantage as for his abolitionist principles.
In each case we honor the man for the enormity of what they got right, for what they taught us about the world and ourselves. As Lincoln himself might have said, "It is altogether fitting and proper that we do this."
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