200 year old scientist turns down Rectorship

As you may or may not know this year is the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. The University of Aberdeen is holding a series of events to celebrate the work of Charles Darwin and science in general.

[You can see a flyer for the events here.]

Related to this is a story I found on the BBC's website. Apparently Charles Darwin was offered the position of rector at the University:

Scientist Charles Darwin could have been a rector at the University of Aberdeen, it has been revealed.

Darwin, who introduced the theory of natural selection to explain evolution, was offered the position in 1872.

However he declined the post in a letter, citing the "status of my health" as the reason.

Scientist and philosopher Thomas Huxley, who was a friend of Darwin and a strong supporter of his theory of evolution, accepted the position.

Darwin circumnavigated the globe in the 1830s.

His book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life was published in 1859.

The Aberdeen connection has been revealed as the university launches a series of events to commemorate Darwin's life and work, beginning with celebrations to mark what would have been his 200th birthday on Thursday.

Dr Stuart Piertney, senior lecturer in evolutionary biology at the University of Aberdeen, said: "Darwin was invited to take on the post of rector by John Smith Craig, an undergraduate student studying medicine in 1872 - the same year the sixth edition of his most significant work The Origin of Species was published."

"Darwin replied by letter to say that whilst he was very honoured to be asked, his ill health would make it impossible for him to accept.

I think it's a shame that we missed out on having such a prestigious scientist as rector.

It's important that occasions such as this anniversary are used to celebrate and highlight the work done by scientists around the world to progress human understanding and to improve the human condition. Especially in the face of religious ideologues who wish to disrupt and overturn science because it clashes with what they want to be true.

Communication

[Video from Pharyngula at ScienceBlogs.]

I think this video serves as a reminder that in science, as in politics, it is surprisingly easy to lose ground that was so difficult to gain.

For example in Gaza, years of political progress can be set back by just a few weeks of violence, and in California rights can be taken away by a popular vote.

But it important to remember that progress can be made and preserved, a good example in the Middle East would be Israel's relationship with Egypt. For decades they were constantly on the brink of war, and at war on several occasions, but now they have relatively reasonable diplomatic relations. That is the kind of progress we need.

The title of this post is communication; communication lies at the heart of how we can solidify the beneficial evolution of society. The ability to tolerate and cohabit with one another is at its core based on the ability of people to empathise and understand one another. To understand why we act in the way that we do, and the reasons why the things we cherish are important to us. That holds true most of all for the rights and freedoms that we are so privileged to hold.

[If you don't have time to watch the whole thing go to 4:30. It's at this point that he makes a point that I would like to emphasise.]



His basic point, for those who haven't watched the video, is that because the Scholars of the Great Library did not communicate to their ideas and achievements to the populace there was no-one willing to defend their ideas when the mob rose up.

We, as Labour supporters, need to learn this lesson. No matter how fine our achievements in office, no matter how many benefit from the minimum wage or a swift and strong reaction to recession, if we do not show the electorate what we have done for them when the Tory mob is at our door there will be no-one to stand in their way.

We must protect our ideals and the progress we have made, and we can only do that by making people believe that out ideals and achievements are worth protecting.

This has nothing to do with politics

And it has nothing to do with the Aberdeen University Labour Club but I'm going to post it anyway. Why? I'm posting it because of the sheer beauty of the spectacle and I just had to share it.

It's an online advent calendar from the Boston Globe's Big Picture feature, it's made up of images taken by the Hubble Space telescope such as this one:



Enjoy.