The co-ordinates given are for the main entrance to the
Natural History Museum in Kensington, London. The statue is opposite the main
entrance at the top of a flight of stairs in the museum's 'Green Zone'.
Non-flash photography is permitted. The museum is free to visit.
The life-size, marble statue shows Darwin seated in an armed
chair. He is depicted wearing clothing of the Victorian era. His right leg is
crossed over his leftand a coat is resting across his lap. His hands are resting
in his lap and his elbows are resting on the arms of the chair. He is bare
headed with a bald pate and his familiar bushy beard.
The Natural History's Museum (visit
link) tells us about the 2.2 tone statue being moved for the 200th birthday
exhibition of Darwin at the museum:
"A 2.2-tonne marble statue of Charles Darwin arrives in
its new position at the Natural History Museum today.
The statue returns to its original location where it was
unveiled in 1885, at the top of the main staircase in the Museum's iconic
Central Hall.
This is in preparation for Darwin200, a nationwide
programme of events in 2008/9 around the bicentenary of Darwin's birth,
celebrating his ideas, impact and influence.
Eight people to move
statue
Moving the Darwin statue took 8 people about 26 hours.
The team had to first move a 1-tonne statue of Richard Owen, the Museum's
founder, to its new position up on the balcony.
Statue moves around
The Darwin statue was
created by Sir Joseph Boehm and was unveiled on 9 June 1885. In 1927 it was
moved to make way for an Indian elephant specimen, and then moved again in 1970
to the North Hall.
The statue's return to its original prime position is in
time for the anniversary of Darwin's birth 200 years ago, and for the start of
the programme of Darwin200 events.
Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin is renowned
for his theory of evolution by means of natural selection, an idea he presented
along with Alfred Russell Wallace, to the Linnaean Society in 1858. This theory,
along with Darwin's The Origin of Species publication a year later, transformed
how we understand the natural world.
Natural selection is the process where random changes in
the genes of an organism, called mutations, occur and benefit that individual
making it more likely to survive and have offspring. It is the most widely
accepted theory that explains how life on our planet evolved."
The BBC website (visit
link) carries a bigraphy of Darwin:
"Darwin was a British scientist who laid the foundations
of the theory of evolution and transformed the way we think about the natural
world.
Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in
Shrewsbury, Shropshire into a wealthy and well-connected family. His maternal
grandfather was china manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood, while his paternal
grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, one of the leading intellectuals of 18th century
England.
Darwin himself initially planned to follow a medical
career, and studied at Edinburgh University but later switched to divinity at
Cambridge. In 1831, he joined a five year scientific expedition on the survey
ship HMS Beagle.
At this time, most Europeans believed that the world was
created by God in seven days as described in the bible. On the voyage, Darwin
read Lyell's 'Principles of Geology' which suggested that the fossils found in
rocks were actually evidence of animals that had lived many thousands or
millions of years ago. Lyell's argument was reinforced in Darwin's own mind by
the rich variety of animal life and the geological features he saw during his
voyage. The breakthrough in his ideas came in the Galapagos Islands, 500 miles
west of South America. Darwin noticed that each island supported its own form of
finch which were closely related but differed in important ways.
On his return to England in 1836, Darwin tried to solve
the riddles of these observations and the puzzle of how species evolve.
Influenced by the ideas of Malthus, he proposed a theory of evolution occurring
by the process of natural selection. The animals (or plants) best suited to
their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the
characteristics which helped them survive to their offspring. Gradually, the
species changes over time.
Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years. After learning
that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had developed similar ideas, the
two made a joint announcement of their discovery in 1858. In 1859 Darwin
published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection'.
The book was extremely controversial, because the
logical extension of Darwin's theory was that homo sapiens was simply another
form of animal. It made it seem possible that even people might just have
evolved - quite possibly from apes - and destroyed the prevailing orthodoxy on
how the world was created. Darwin was vehemently attacked, particularly by the
Church. However, his ideas soon gained currency and have become the new
orthodoxy.
Darwin died on 19 April 1882 and was buried in
Westminster Abbey."