Research project
Darwinian Inheritance: Communication and Empire in the Making of a Scientific Dynasty
- Start date: 1 May 2025
- End date: 30 April 2028
- Funder: The Leverhulme Trust
- Primary investigator: Dr Edwin Rose
Value
£174,000
Partners and collaborators
Natural History Museum, London Darwin College, Cambridge Cambridge University Library
Description
The Darwin dynasty played a central role in the production and communication of natural knowledge from the early eighteenth to mid-twentieth century. Nevertheless, there has been no connected study of Britain’s longest surviving scientific family. Concentrating on the Darwin dynasty’s changing approaches to communicating information and interactions with empire, this project explores the evolution of scientific working practices over three centuries. It will be the first study to integrate the successful manipulation of print with the Darwins’ ability to found and dominate new disciplines in the sciences, engaging a global community of readers while securing their own legacy.
Main image caption: A magic lantern slide commissioned by George Howard Darwin (1845–1912) based on a photograph by William Usborne Moore depicting the tidal bore on the Tsien-Tang-Kiang (now Qiantang) river, China, in 1892. Darwin later reproduced this for his book The Tide.
