1. Carol Anelli (Dept. of Entomology)

Overall I found both the movie Creation and Dr. Anelli’s presentation to be very interesting as the history behind Charles Darwin and the development of his theory was never something that I had previously taken time to consider or learn about. I have always had this unsupported idea of  Darwin to be a very radical and brave man that created a theory against what was most commonly accepted at that time and did this with out any refrain. After watching the film and presentation it became very apparent that although his theory of evolution and variation was indeed very radical at this time when everything was explained through theology, Darwin himself was not as rebellious of a person that I had thought. Darwin was had so many reservations to releasing his work that he sat with it for nearly twenty years in fear of what might happen to him, his family, and his relationships when he published his findings.

It was interesting to learn about the people, such as Cuvier, Lyell, Paley and many others, that inspired Darwin and started the path which would eventually lead to these revolutionary ideas. When Darwin started looking into the all of the geological findings that were showing species have not always been in the exact way that they appeared at that moment he was able to use that and his findings from his five year voyage to accept the unheard belief of variation and that the world is much older than what theology had been teaching. Although his work proved not to be perfect what Darwin did was truly ground breaking in not only developing a theory that this this day is accepted but also changed the way in which scientist develop and study their own theories.

Dr. Anelli described theories formulate by Plato and Aristotle in which species fit into distinct groups and there was a clear hierarchy of species. Dr. Anelli then went on to describe later books and theories formulated and written by naturalists (including John Ray and William Paley); however, Ray and Paley were associated with the Church and thus their theories reflected the idea that God created all creatures so they must be perfect and unchanging. Dr. Anelli then tied in ideas from the movie about Darwin’s personal life, family and influences with his theories, the social hierarchy during the Victorian Era and potential rejection of his ideas. Darwin’s theories directly conflicted with the idea that since God created creatures they could not go extinct nor could they undergo evolution.

I felt like the movie focused a lot more on Darwin’s personal struggles and his life, while Dr. Anelli gave us a broader picture of Darwin’s influencers, as well as the impacts his ideas have had on modern science and technology.

The evolution of science was heavily impacted by Charles Darwin, which was made evident by the film, Creation, and Dr. Anelli’s presentation on Darwin, Evolution, and Why it Matters.  Both materials proved educational in my appreciation for Darwin and the history of science.  At the beginning of her presentation, Dr. Anelli shed light on a highly valuable point, that modern innovations are not far from the methods that Darwin himself utilized in his discoveries.  Through the example of the Nobel Prize winner of Physiology and Medicine in 2017 of research on fruit flies, she emphasized the value of Darwin’s methodology today.  As someone who participates in research, I found this to be not only valid, but also quite intriguing, due to the value that “basic” science can have.  No science is actually basic, but rather I am referring to going back to fundamental ideas and re-evaluating.

Taking a step back, an evaluation of ancient views on science exposes early justifications and scientific ways of thinking.  I had not previously known that Plato in around 400 BC believed every organism had a perfect essence or type and that Aristotle wrote on typological thinking, saying that organisms existed on a ladder of complexity.  However, the context of an event is critical to understanding the event.  In order to understand ways of thinking, we must attempt to place ourselves in the world of the time.  Which is why I find the major discoveries of the 18th-20th centuries to be fascinating, due to the complications of theology in culture, as well as other societal factors.  For instance, the introduction of concepts like the age of the earth and fossil evidence, defied the literal interpretations of the Bible that were common at the time.  Yet, I would like to note that religion is of great importance to me.  I believe in God, but that does not eliminate my capability to firmly believe in evolution simultaneously.  For me, it is all about your outlook, particularly when evaluating “literal” meanings.  It is a complex picture, considering I cannot even read the original text, since I do not know Greek.  I disagree with the notion that science and faith cannot be simultaneous, but to each their own.

And once again, I find the contextualization of works, especially works of great importance like the Bible, to be essential in creating interpretations in new times.  For instance, Dr. Anelli spoke of Reverend Paley’s book, Natural Theology, and how it heavily relied on Ray’s book on fixed species in order to attempt to prove God’s existence in nature.  However, since that was a modern way of thinking at the time, it is natural for that individual to seek justifications from the accepted scientific point of view, though it was proven wrong in the future.

To a similar extent, Darwin’s background is also important to take into consideration when studying his discoveries.  After listening to Dr. Anelli’s discussion on Darwin’s life, I believe that his background cultivated his capability to discover.  Considering that he was a wealthy individual with an education from Cambridge University capable of corresponding with people around England and even other areas, he had the free time to devote his life to these scientific studies.  For example, he would not have likely made the same conclusions if he had not been able to sail to various parts of the world and see biological diversity firsthand.  In order to have done that, he had to have the means to do so.  This concept is intriguing to me since inequality in opportunity is still an issue that we struggle with in modern society.

Finally, as Dr. Anelli stated numerous times, science is continuously being refined.  I enjoyed her comment that good scientists are always looking for the why of what is occurring.  If we want to maintain innovation, we need to maintain our inquisitive nature.  Darwin’s life exemplifies the controversy of changing ways of thinking.  But, if we continue to ask questions and observe what is going on in the world, then hopefully we can continue to progress.  Overall, I found Dr. Anelli’s educational and interesting; she was an effective and engaging speaker.

Carol Anelli’s talk today was very interesting. It was cool to listen to someone so passionate about Charles Darwin talk about him but in an unbiased way. She had to talk about subjects like religion and creationism and she did this in a non-biased, informational way. I wish we got to hear her whole speech but we ran out of time. I also learned information that I do not think I would have learned in another class. Just fun facts about the different scientists was very cool.

The movie “Creation” was a very good movie. It was moving and entertaining and made the audience really connect and feel for the characters. I would recommend this movie to anyone for science or just for a good one.

This was an excellent presentation and an even better first presentation to set the tone for the course. I loved how the movie was intimately involved with the presentation as well as bringing audience participation with the form of a worksheet where the students were able to learn to communicate with each other as we are still unfamiliar with each other. The movie gave us insight into an isolated view of who Darwin was and internal conflicts that he faced, while the presentation that was given showed the rest of the picture. It showed us what the world was like around Darwin. The current standings of science that he was working to overthrow. How Darwin became who he was and who shaped him along the way. I would have loved to hear the end of the presentation as it appeared to further connect Darwin’s theories to the real world, or a more current era with scientific studies. While we got individual names, ideals, and dates, it would be interesting to see all of these on a compiled figure through time to really understand the gaps in time where these ideas were formed. Originally I had only known of Darwin through his journey on the Beagle and his publication of ‘On the Origin of Species’. This lecture filled in a lot of the gaps that I didn’t know I had.

Darwin’s theory was and still is very important; it has taken over many fields, not just biology. Before Darwin, Plato thought that every organism had an essence created by God. These essences cannot be changed Yet, Aristotle thought there was a hierarchy where humans were on top and simple cells were on the bottom. During the 18th century, Hutton gave us the rock cycle, explain erosion and deposition; he also said that the earth was old but his statement conflicted with the Bible, which angered people. During the 19th century, Cuvier and Brongniart were able to better understand the layers of the Earth. This helped explain where fossils came from and what life like was life before. John Ray published “Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of Creation”, explaining how species were fixed and constant from creation. He argued that the organisms were created by God so they had to be perfect but they could never go extinct. Paley published ” Natural Theology”; his book was inspired by Ray’s book. Paley believed that God’s creatures were adapted perfectly. All these views had an impact on Darwin and his ideas.

Darwin was raised in a not so religious household; his father was a non-believer but a religious mother. Darwin was brought up from a wealthy family, he was able to complete his degree at Cambridge. He married his first cousin, Emma and had ten children with her. Out of the ten, seven survived. Darwin seemed to care for his family, his autobiography and letter to his family shows this to be true. Emma and Darwin both treated each other with utmost respect; they supported one another greatly. Even in the movie, Darwin was shown to care deeply for Annie and was heartbroken when she passed away. The movie also portrayed that Darwin finally took the time to write about his theory for Emma and his children.

Darwin was described to be observant and asked himself questions. When he was 21 years old, Darwin was able to travel and gain biological knowledge which lasted 5 years. He traveled to South America and Ocean Islands, most famously the Galapagos Island. Not long after his trip, Darwin formulated his theory but he waits twenty years to publish his new theory. Other than the “Origin of Species”, Darwin published over 25 books and papers.

in 1859, Darwin finally published “Origin of Species”. In this book, Darwin talked about Malthusian principles, natural selection, and modification. The book, of course, had some critic. People wondered where  God was in his theory, they were confused about what natural selection was, and the blending of inheritance. Of course, these critics weren’t able to stop Darwin and how was able to change our thoughts on Evolution!

Dr. Carol Anelli came in to speak to us today about Darwin and his importance in evolution. She mentioned that Darwin’s theory is extremely important because his findings are strengthened as new technology is advanced, he laid a great ground work for the future findings. Darwin’s theory and evolution has been used and been taken over by many fields beyond biology and medicine. Another thing that was discussed was how his theory kind of conflicted with theology. I think that Dr. Anelli did a great job of presenting this material in an interesting way. I like how she broke up the lecture by asking us to answer some questions on Darwin, this challenged my thinking and personally helped me learn more about Darwin. I always knew Darwin was important, but I never really thought of the scale of importance that he really had until today. I really enjoyed this lecture, it was fun, interesting, and organized well.

As new technology has come along, it has served to strengthen Darwin’s theories.

In the past, it was believed that every organism is one example of the true Form of a being (Plato’s time).  This is typological thinking – the view that species are unchanging. The first person to suggest evolution and the idea that species can change was Lamarck in the time of the French Revolution.

Later, Hutton talked about the Rock Cycle and how the earth is immensely old, which conflicts with the Bible. Then, in the 19th century, Cuvier and Brongniart observed the layers of exposed rock formations that tell the history of the area based on the fossils present.  Charles Lyell, “Father of Modern Geology,” championed that change over time on earth’s surface is very slow. He published some books that were important to Darwin. John Ray, 17th century, published a book about how species are perfect for their environments – God would not have created anything that is not perfect.  William Paley published a book with similar ideals; God’s creatures are adapted perfectly.

The time before Darwin went on his voyage:

The watch analogy – if you happen to find a watch, you can infer that it has a designer and a maker.  This supposedly translates to God’s creations. They must have a designer and have been designed with a purpose.  Darwin was religious, and a pretty well-off guy. Definitely a family man. Married to his first cousin, Emma, and they were very close with each other.  She was worried that if he lost his religion, they would not be able to be together in heaven. Paley and Wallace were key influences, along with the study of Geology.  It’s still unclear whether or not he held his religious views throughout his life. His views likely changed over time.

He first started formulating his ideas very shortly after his voyage.  He waited about 20 years before he published his works. He didn’t want to upset Emma, or receive criticism for upsetting the social hierarchical norms.  He ended up publishing about 25 books and a bunch of papers.

1836 England: specimens

1837 Transmutation Notebooks

1844 “confessing a murder”

1858 Wallace

1859 Origin comes out

Walsh on Science and Religion: Science and Faith should be as separate as possible.

Book to read – Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin

Dr. Anelli spoke with us about Darwin. Darwin was vital for science because it set the base for theories developed in the future. His theory changed the entire view of science from a religious aspect to an evolution and science related origin. Darwin went to Cambridge to get an education, however learned a lot while aboard the HMS Beagle. While on the Beagle, he had the opportunity to travel the world and ask many questions. He also had views impacted from both Lyell and Wallace. Darwin was also a family man. He married his first cousin and had many kids, some of which died at a young age. The death of his daughter Annie was the hardest on him, which some could say turned his views on god and after much debate, he finally decided to publish his book on the origins of species. It took him so long to publish his book for many reasons, one main reason was his book conflicted with his wife’s, along with many other people’s view of religion. In the end, his view was accepted by the people and his books sold out the day it was released.