I really enjoyed Dr. Anelli’s presentation about the life of Darwin. You could really see the enthusiasm and admiration of Darwin’s life and his contribution to science that she had in her presentation. I also really enjoyed how she filled in many gaps that were left out from the movie. One of the things that Dr. Anelli did that I also appreciated was when she explained some of the inspirations from which Darwin began to postulate his theory; Including his research on the Beagle and the scientific findings of other scientists such as Lyell, Lamarck, etc. I appreciated this because it brought the view on how Darwin was inspired, which is something that we tend to overlook when learning about scientists and their findings. I also liked how Dr. Anelli had us work on a questionnaire on Darwin’s life, which taught me things about Darwin that my previous biology classes or the movie had not shown us before. I also like how Dr. Anelli finished her presentation with the statement that it is very much possible to have both faith and believe in science at the same time. It just goes to show that while religion is important, it is also hard to deny the tangible evidence that explains why Darwin’s theory remains accepted to this day.
I’ happy you enjoyed this presentation, Kareem. One goal of this class is to see how science does not occur in a vacuum. Yes, you don’t always here about the back story and cultural events that shaped discovery, but I think you will see more and more this semester how they are inseparable.