The Origin of Species in 45 minutes

The March talk will be given by Dr Neil Gostling from the University of Southampton. Neil will be talking about what Darwin did and didn’t say in that most famous published work on evolution by natural selection. 

The theory of evolution by Natural Selection is one of the most elegant scientific principles. When explained, as Darwin did in the Origin, it appears ‘obvious’ and you have to ask yourself why no one had thought of it earlier? The simple answer is, people had (including Darwin’s own Grandfather), but Darwin’s work, and tireless observation, provided a mechanism for evolutionary change that nobody else before him had uncovered. Whilst the theory is straight forward and ingenious, it is, at the same time, one of the most misunderstood and misrepresented by people that object to scientific encroachment on traditional views and beliefs. The theory and mechanism for evolution is set out in Darwin’s most famous work, On the Origin of Species. Neil will take just 45 minutes to explain what Darwin said, and didn’t say, in this most important of biology books, and will be happy to answer any of your questions.

Dr Neil Gostling is a Senior Teaching Fellow in Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton. He is an evolutionary-developmental biologist (Evo-Devo) by training and a palaeontologist by research.