February 12th next marks the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin. We celebrate the occasion on the eve of the anniversary with a presentation by Professor Tom Hayden, School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin.
The presentation will review the early life of Charles Darwin and the circumstances that brought him to his theory of evolution by natural selection. His views on the origin of humans will be considered particularly in the light of the evidence available to him. Finally the rapid accumulation of palaeontological and genetic evidence since Darwin's death and how it has shaped our current ideas on the origin and affinities of humans will be outlined.