This Morning (1976)
Days in the life of Darwin
Broadcast Date: May 25, 1976
Charles Darwin's contribution to scientific thought was so earth-shaking that it tends to overshadow the other aspects of his life. The career of Darwin the scientist is well-documented, but what about Darwin the man? In this 1976 clip, CBC Radio's This Morning explores the lesser-known details of Charles Darwin's life.Days in the life of Darwin
• Charles Darwin turned 25 while aboard the HMS Beagle and to celebrate the occasion, the ship's captain named a mountain after the young man. At almost 2,500 metres, Mount Darwin is the highest peak in Tierra del Fuego. Mountains named for Darwin also stand in Antarctica, Tasmania and California.• Darwin described himself as an agnostic, and was puzzled by the sometimes heated arguments between evolutionists and creationists. In an 1879 letter to his friend John Fordyce, Darwin wrote, "It seems to me absurd to doubt that a man may be an ardent Theist and an evolutionist." In 1898, he said "there is no reason why the disciples of either school should attack each other with bitterness."
• There is a long-standing rumour that Darwin converted to Christianity and even renounced evolution on his deathbed. This dates back to a 1915 story in the Boston Watchman-Examiner, repeating the claim of British evangelist named "Lady Hope," who said she visited Darwin on his deathbed. Darwin's daughter Henrietta refuted the story in a 1922 article in the Christian. She wrote, "Lady Hope was not present during his last illness, or any illness. I believe he never even saw her ... He never recanted any of his scientific views, either then or earlier... The whole story has no foundation whatever."
Days in the life of Darwin
Medium: Radio
Program: This Morning (1976)
Broadcast Date: May 25, 1976
Guest(s): William Swinton
Host: Laurier LaPierre
Duration: 14:37
Last updated:
Feb. 13, 2009
I think Darwin was a wonderful naturalist. Unfortunately, he came to to early conclusions about life and its development that contradicted the known laws of science. First of all, he had a M.A. in theology, not science. Secondly, his book, "the Oring of Specees" never actually dealt with the origins of species. Ask Jerry Coyne or Niles Eldgdrege, both evolutionists. Thirdly, he never accounted for the origin of physical matter which also included the origin of time (since radioistopes, atoms, have a built-in age, a half-life, that is, time). Thirdly, he ignored that life can only come from life--the ability to grow and reproduce independantly. Fourthly, the genome can never add information through regeneration--only lose it, degrade it (muttions) or scramble it (variation). His ideas were, thus, lacking in this regard. His drawings were also commendable. All of the fathers of science, though, discredited Darwin's theory. So it obviously cannot be the basis of good science unless you wish to discredit Faraday, Rutherfore, Curie, Einstein, Pasteur, all of whom never accepted evolutionism. Even Sir Francis Crick never believed in the evolution of the human cell: Thus his theories of Pan-Spermia (and where is the science in this see as alien life has never been observed). He was, however, a godsend to those wishing a fanciful, unrealistic notion of life without any lgoical thinkings. Can we belive in a theoery for which the laws of science must be suspended in order to make it work?
Submitted by: Crawnet