Talk:Darwin Day

A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the On this day section on 12 dates. [show]

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Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was born on the same day as Darwin and it is my belief that this contributes to support for a celebrationof February 12. I think I read this somewhere once but I don't know where.Notjim 22:25, 19 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"Darwin Day is a recently instituted celebration" -- instituted by whom? The US Congress? UN? EU? "Institute" sounds like something rather formal and official, which Darwin Day does not seem to be. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.27.25.177 (talk) 14:08, 12 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Google icon

In the information provided by the theory of evolution zoologist Darwin, there is no similarity thought about the enigma of creation. Scientist doesn’t research for our universe condition i.e. Darwin doesn’t know in our universe is everything is the evolution from single dimension. See origin of the Universe at https://shahidurrahmansikder.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/origin-of-the-universe/

Discovery Allah/God the Big Bang, Evolution and Gravitation Theory https://plus.google.com/ Pope: The most important news- about the God, Big Bang & Evolution at https://plus.google.com/104669722445739033329/posts/MQ9wQejCRLQ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.64.136.130 (talk) 04:51, 14 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

If you know of any Darwin fans who can draw, could you please forward the following URL to them?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cpurrin1/82591845/

Thank you very much.

-Colin Purrington

Can someone review?

I don't have the time or skill to edit this page myself, but the Wiki entries regarding Darwin keep attributing the theory of evolution to him. While his work directly resulted in that theory, he never put it forth himself. He made observations and postulations about natural selection, but was not publicly the first person to come up with Evolution by natural selection. I read a few books on Darwin and it seems very clear this was the case. Apparently he was heavily involved with the Church and did not want to extrapolate his natural selection model to say that it produced humans and other organisms. There are a few good experts on Darwin out there and I hope one of them sees this post and takes it upon themselves to edit the entry.

````Matt —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.58.54.189 (talk) 20:46, 12 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Please cite any books you've read or at least read the Wikipedia article on Darwin. The fact is that English/British society was "heavily involved with 'the Church'and not Darwin himself. Look up Publication of Darwin's Theory. and Alfred Russel Wallace —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.128.235.189 (talk • contribs) 22:09, 12 February 2007) (UTC)

Darwin's picture

Since this picture is not the iconic "old with beard like Moses" one that is commonly seen, I am adding that he was 55 years old at the time of this picture. DDCworker 01:05, 28 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Neutrality

The entire article sounds like it was written by a person or people slanted tremendously in favor of the celebration of Darwin Day. Phrases like "rocked the very foundation of our knowledge base" don't belong in an encyclopedia article, and there definitely needs to be some mention of critical response (which definitely exists). æ ² ✆ 2007‑02‑12t21:39z

I disagree. The phrase you used as an example is objectively true. Practically every field of scientific study was radically changed by the scientific theory of evolution, and it had huge philosophical implications. So yes, it DID rock the very foundation of our knowledge base. Personally I think the article needs some wikifying and if there is a critical response, it should be included. However, I think that what is already written is not "slanted tremendously in favor of the celebration of Darwin Day."--TheAlphaWolf 22:37, 12 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with the former argument. Some of the lines seem to have a point of view, though sometimes they are very discreet. Cremepuff222 (talk, sign book) 02:28, 9 March 2007 (UTC):[reply]

"The objectives are to educate the public about Charles Darwin's contributions and the mechanism of natural selection as well as to defend science against the creationist (later renamed Intelligent Design) movement..." I also agree with the first argument. For all the criticisms of religion in the article, it treats Darwin as if he were a god! --Chuckos 13:50, 14 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

When it comes down to it, though, you can't deny that he made a great contribution to science as we know it. Whether you choose to feel that natural laws obstruct your faith or not is your choice: frankly, they don't have to. Give the man his due! Fifth Rider 18:06, 22 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

If we're voting, I'm in favor of the "objectively true" argument -- the theory of evolution was really, really huge, scientifically speaking. CSWarren 00:20, 1 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ernst Mayr, Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought, Scientific American, July 2000, discusses Darwin's impact on our civilization, and that article is almost reprinted at <http://www.biologie.uni-hamburg.de/b-online/e36_2/darwin_influence.htm>. Based on that scholarly work, I suggest the phrasing become "altered ordinary citizens' assumptions about the natural world." If no compelling argument to the contrary is offered, I will add that citation and change the phrasing. DDCworker 23:48, 20 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"on board" is both slang and suggests the author is pushing one side. Also I will change uses of DD Program that actually refer to the newer organization DD Celebration. DDCworker 03:43, 11 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The phrase "over 150 years of evidence collected that supports his initial findings" needs to be softened to something like "supports most of his initial findings", because Darwin did not know about genetics and genes, and invented a mechanism for heredity that seemed plausible but has proved to be WRONG. I will make this change. DDCworker 22:16, 29 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

History <-- Darwin's Contributions to Science and Society

The heading "History" is vague and overly broad. The contents of that section describe what Darwin did that motivates the following sections. Unless there is objection, I will change that heading to "Darwin's Contributions to Science and Society". DDCworker 01:59, 11 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I intend to revise the opening to give a detailed and verifiable discussion of what Darwin and Wallace contributed and the timing. DDCworker 00:44, 22 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Celebrating Darwin (replaces Recognition)

I changed this section name from "Recognition" to "Celebrating Darwin", to be more specific about what it contains.DDCworker 00:23, 9 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Someone should document Darwin's burial in Westminster Abbey, an honor promoted by his scientific admirers. Anyone want to make that entry? DDCworker 01:29, 22 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There was a girl's school at Down House before English Heritage turned it into a museum in 1929. See page 2-3 of Morris, Solene; et al. (August 2003 (C40)), Charles Darwin at Down House, St Ives Westerham Press Ltd., ISBN 1 85074 647 8 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |last2= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) DDCworker 00:50, 4 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There are quite notable celebrations of Darwin before the 1970's, particularly 1909 and 1959. I shall report and document them in chronological order. DDCworker 01:40, 18 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Bringing the early academic celebrations in 1909 and 1959 into a single paragraph. DDCworker 22:48, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Rather than require someone to click on the 1882 Wiki link to learn of Darwin's date of death, why not just tell them in this article? It's relevant to the history of celebrations. DDCworker 23:02, 17 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The remark about "other early events have not been recorded" is confusing. I'll try to improve the intent: to invite reports of documented early celebrations of Darwin. DDCworker 22:41, 17 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The sentence about Salem College's 'Darwin Festival' is better in the active voice, with the actor (Salem College) as early in the sentence as possible. Easier to understand. Also removing the insignificant link to the year 1980. Why would one go there when there is no Darwin-related entry in the 1980 page. And this festival is not significant enough to go on the 1980 page. DDCworker 23:33, 17 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There seems to be a trend over time going from LOCALIZED events honoring Darwin, by scientists and academics, toward increasingly public events with an intent of teaching about evolution to public audiences. That suggests we should discuss these early recognition events in a chronological order. So I will order the early events in chronological order and attempt to document the early celebrations as well as possible. DDCworker 01:37, 28 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I could not find verification of the claim that Shrewsbury, England, where Darwin spent his childhood, had been celebrating him for decades. Can someone else verify that? Lacking that, I will document what is known from current Web material. DDCworker 22:32, 31 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The current discussion of the Salem College celebration seems inaccurate. "In the United States, the first Darwin Day (also renamed to Darwin Festival) was held at Salem College in Massachusetts in 1980". I could not find any evidence that the celebration was called anything other than the Darwin FESTIVAL. The biology department history (http://w3.salemstate.edu/~pkelly/darwin/) and an alumnae publication about the Darwin Festival (http://www.salemstate.edu/alumni/statement/docs/ALA-Statement_10.pdf, page 21) make no mention of "renamed to Darwin Festival". The name has only been Darwin Festival from the beginning. Salem's only use of "Darwin Day" was for the DATE of celebration in recent years. Unless evidence is offered to support the "renamed to Darwin Festival" (implying that it was first called Darwin Day), I will change those sentences. DDCworker 22:32, 13 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The paragraph about Salem College can benefit from a slight wording change, to "has been held". Also, is there really any reason to have a Wiki reference to the UNITED STATES???? DDCworker 23:39, 31 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There seem to be an excess of Wiki references to things like the YEAR something happened. Aren't these excessive links kind of distracting from the flow of the article? Does anyone have a justification for so many links to tangential material? DDCworker 23:39, 31 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the same spirit, 'evolution' is a Wiki-link at the beginning, but it seems excessive to make it a link at subsequent usages. So I'll remove those linkages. DDCworker 22:48, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The U of Tennessee is not ongoing, day after day after day. It is an ANNUAL event. Making that clarification. DDCworker

Documenting first Darwin Day sponsored by Humanist Community and Stanford Humanists. DDCworker 00:34, 18 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The last two paragraphs describing current support break the chronological stream in this section and belong in the Support section farther down, where other current support is listed. I will move the 2. DDCworker 00:23, 9 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Darwin Day Program and Darwin Day Celebration

The listing of volunteers within the organization can be found at the organization's Website and seems not significant enough for an encyclopedia article. I'm going to remove that sentence. DDCworker 23:27, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The full Mission Statement is on the Web site and can be read by those interested. The mission is implied by the actions described in the Wiki article, for those not so interested. DDCworker 00:25, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Organization name

The legal name of the California based tax deductible corporation focussed exclusively on Darwin Day events is "Darwin Day Celebration" (http://apps.irs.gov/app/pub78) and the name "Darwin Day Program" is no longer officially used. Any reason this should not be reflected in the article? DDCworker 22:47, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Events heading

This material belongs near the description of the corporation most central to this movement: The Darwin Day Celebration, Inc., of California, USA. I will move it forward before the Supporters section. DDCworker 22:15, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Supporters

The naming of early freethought organizations, scientific organizations should be logically combined with the later involvement of organizations like "Evolution Sunday" in a single overview of the supporters. Any argument to the contrary? DDCworker 22:15, 15 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There are a HUGE number of organizations listed here, but the contributor didn't document them. Anyone out there willing to help me search out the organizations and see if we can FIND DOCUMENTATION for the support asserted? DDCworker 02:14, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've been able to find documentation of most of these organizations when I searched hard. But I can't find any documentation of support from the Linnean Society for modern Darwin Day. The Linnean Society was of course the organization before which Darwin and Wallace presented their similar papers in 1859. Can anyone else cite evidence of such support recently? DDCworker 01:47, 25 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Although families-in-reason.org is mentioned by the Atheist Allliance International, Google does not show any actual site at that domain. The Whois.org site does not show such a domain registered or used. Sooo, lacking proof that it is a real or functioning organization, I will remove this reference. DDCworker 23:09, 29 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Present Times <--- Current Efforts

It's not the TIME that's important here. The activities/efforts of people are the things being reported, with some future orientation. For those reasons, I am changing the section heading to Current Efforts. The section called Future may logically merge with Current Efforts, because the Future is not known, only the target of efforts. DDCworker 00:37, 16 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Guelph event doc'n?

Is there some documentation of "In Canada, the first Darwin Day event took place at the University of Guelph in 1994 … organized by Amanda Chesworth, volunteer professors, and fellow students."? And was this nonpublic event more significant than many other early celebrations of Darwin such as the Phylum Feast events (http://pinicola.ca/darwind2.htm) that are known to go back at least to 1972? DDCworker 22:57, 13 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Since no one has offered documentation of this event since the early request for documentation in July 2007, and it appears to be a one-time event with unknown attendance, I will remove it for now. If there is verifiable evidence of its content, it can be restored later with such evidence. 71.141.110.127 22:12, 19 September 2007 (UTC) DDCworker 22:23, 19 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Category Entries

Apparently 79.6.244.60 made an entry that lists Darwin Day among the Geek Holidays entries. DDCworker 23:08, 22 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Darwin's Contributions to Science and Society

I can see a lot of good work has been put in to this article and I don't want to step on anyone's toes.

I think the section - Darwin's Contributions to Science and Society - seems out of place (or at least overly long). I'd like to see the article focus more on the holiday itself; it's origins, current status and future plans. It would also be interesting to see more on the attempts to have it formally recognised.

I don't think there is any need for an encyclopaedia article to defend or justify the reasons for any holiday being celebrated. We should just describe the holiday and leave it at that. This might also address the concerns raised about NPOV, although personally the article seems neutral to me. --Boreas 01:45, 11 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the below from the article as it didn't seem related to Darwin Day. I'm posting it here in case anyone wants to re-add some or all of it. I also removed the POV tag as I think this was related to the removed material.

==Darwin's Contributions to Science and Society==
Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection as the mechanism of evolution, together with the monumental amount of supporting evidence he compiled to support it, provided science and society with a logical explanation for the diversity of life.
Darwin had spent more than 20 years developing and verifying this theory when he received an article from fellow naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace. At the time Wallace had been working in the Malay Archipelago and, while on the tiny island of Ternate off the western coast of Jilolo, he developed a mechanism for evolution, wrote an article about it, and sent it to his acquaintance Charles Darwin. Upon receiving the article, Darwin realized the close similarity of Wallace's theory on how new species arise, and Darwin's own theory. Darwin consulted with Joseph Hooker and Charles Lyell who persuaded him that the best way for both men to receive appropriate recognition was to present their work sequentially at an upcoming meeting of the Linnean Society in London in 1858. Subsequently Darwin and Wallace exchanged letters noting their satisfaction with the way it had been handled. ^[1] In the following year Darwin compiled his arguments and some of the data he had accumulated about natural selection, and published On the Origin of Species on November 24, 1859.
Wallace was also one of the leading evolutionary thinkers of the 19th century who made a number of other contributions to the development of evolutionary theory, but Darwin's excellent writing and high social position gave him preeminence among scientists. The theory has had far-reaching implications in almost all disciplines and has altered ordinary citizens' assumptions about the natural world. ^[2] Human civilization has been deeply affected by Darwin's work, with over 150 years of evidence collected that supports most of his initial findings. Modification and refinement to the details of the theory continue among contemporary scientists. For his contributions to humanity and his commitment to the scientific method, Charles Darwin is celebrated on February 12th each year.

References

^ Shermer, Michael (2002), In Darwin's Shadow: the life and science of Alfred Russell Wallace, p.135 et seq., New York, NY: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-514830-4 {{citation}}: More than one of |location= and |place= specified (help)

^ Mayr, Ernst (1999-9-23), Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought, retrieved 2007-7-27 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)

Celebrating Darwin
[edit]
…The family leased the house to tenants including Olive Willis, who founded the Down House School for Girls and operated it in Down House from 1907 to 1922, when she moved the school elsewhere. Another school operated there for a few years, with less success. During 1927-29 Sir George Buckston Browne financed and directed renovation of Down House to be a National Museum. On 7 June 1929 Sir Browne entrusted the House to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, to be open to the public. From the late 1940's to the late 1980's the Royal College of Surgeons of England maintained the House. Through efforts by the Natural History Museum, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Wellcome Trust, in 1996 English Heritage became owner and restorer of Down House, and turned it into a museum. ^[1]

--Boreas ^Talk 12:05, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ Page 2-3 of Morris, Solene; et al. (August 2003 (C40)), Charles Darwin at Down House, St Ives Westerham Press Ltd., ISBN 1 85074 647 8 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |last2= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

Darwin Day 2009 on Wikipedia

Editors and readers may be interested in the efforts to create Darwin Day content for the Wikipedia Main page. There are lots of Darwin- and evolution-related topics that don't yet have articles, and we'll be presenting a number of new articles on February 12, 2009.--ragesoss (talk) 20:05, 13 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

International Darwin Day Foundation

The darwinday.org website now claims to be operated by the "International Darwin Day Foundation", which is described as an autonomous program of the American Humanist Association. Is the "International Darwin Day Foundation" simply the new name of the Darwin Day Celebration? The article needs updating to whatever the current state is. --David Edgar (talk) 14:59, 17 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Evolution Day article threatened with deletion

In case anyone else is interested, the Evolution Day article is being threatened with deletion: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Evolution Day. Please help rescue it! -- Limulus (talk) 22:29, 13 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Incorrect Information

I keep editing this page only to have it revert back to the original piece. There is so much misinformation contained in this entry about the creation of this program. This needs to be fixed. I will continue to work on correcting the mistakes and will enlist others who actually do know the facts and have documentation to support them. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.222.230.106 (talk) 20:42, 28 November 2014 (UTC)[reply]

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[1] Shermer, Michael (2002), In Darwin's Shadow: the life and science of Alfred Russell Wallace, p.135 et seq., New York, NY: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-514830-4 {{citation}}: More than one of |location= and |place= specified (help)

[2] Mayr, Ernst (1999-9-23), Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought, retrieved 2007-7-27 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)

[3] Page 2-3 of Morris, Solene; et al. (August 2003 (C40)), Charles Darwin at Down House, St Ives Westerham Press Ltd., ISBN 1 85074 647 8 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |year= (help); Explicit use of et al. in: |last2= (help)CS1 maint: year (link)

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