Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

The documentary known as Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life is a particularly fascinating one. It explains various levels of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of natural selection. In fact, not only does this program discuss the theories of Darwin’s adulthood, but it even talks about his fascination with bugs as a child, and his discoveries, that tempt me to believe spurred his desire of study.

Charles Darwin among most communities, specifically religious, seem to stereotype him as a cruel and unjust man for his theories. While, in this educational film, it talks about how he would even respect the values of his wife and children, which seem everything but cruel and unjust. His desire to know more was what separated him from most. He desired to know more than the church could tell him. In fact, he even held off on the publishing of his book to avoid stirring trouble.

Further into the film, they discuss a particular individual that had similar ideas as Darwin. This individual’s name was Alfred R. Wallace. Only he had come up with such ideas while under the stress of the malarian flu, after corresponding with Darwin for years. Because of the timing of their works, both were sent to the senior members of Linnean Society, yet neither were present for the readings. It is said that no one was influenced by either, and in fact, neither was really accepted. Darwin held off the publishing of his theories even longer.

When Darwin finally did publish his works and ideas on November 24th of 1859, it did exactly as he thought it would, causing a fury amongst the religious community. Granted, because of it’s shelf time, many prints were made down the line. Possibly because of not only it’s strong ideas but because its easy readability.

In another area of the world, Gregor Mendal had the idea, which was later proven true that chromosomes can pass certain generations but still be carried. Then in 1953, Francis Crick and James Watson found the ideas of DNA. Further, it was found that inserting certain chromosomes into the double helix of DNA, even when crossing species will still pass a trait, it furthered the notion that survival of the fittest might not only be possible, but perhaps very likely.