Monday, October 16, 2006

 

A theory's evolution: Franklin Institute's exhibition on Charles Darwin

Niles Eldredge (info) says the goal was merely to continue a series of New York exhibits on the world's great scientists. First came Leonardo da Vinci, then Albert Einstein. Why not Charles Darwin?

Somewhere along the way, a certain Pennsylvania school board decided that Darwin's theory of evolution had 'gaps' and 'problems,' and the ensuing media spotlight was brighter than any museum official could have hoped.

'In a sense, it was dumb luck,' says Eldredge.

'Darwin' drew a half-million visitors at New York's American Museum of Natural History, where Eldredge, the exhibit curator, is a celebrated paleontologist. Now the show, billed as the broadest ever devoted to the British scientist, is at the Franklin Institute.

Though preparations began before controversy erupted in Dover, Pa., the exhibit nevertheless devotes ample space to the debate.

Continued at "A theory's evolution: Franklin Institute's exhibition on Charles Darwin"
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Featured book: Niles Eldredge's "Darwin: Discovering the Tree of Life" (Amazon UK | US)

[Science, Intelligent Design]

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