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Ohio school to mark Darwin's birth, work
By Associated Press
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CLEVELAND -- Charles Darwin's theory of evolution has to go through its own survival of the fittest.

To commemorate Darwin's theory outlasting the scorn of 19th century clerics and the skepticism of the 21st century public, Case Western Reserve University is planning a celebration of Darwin. The celebration in 2008 and 2009 will coincide with the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his landmark "On the Origin of Species."

"You could say Einstein influenced people's basic understanding of the universe, but I think Darwin's impact was probably greater, in that he changed our view of what man is," said Dr. Neil Greenspan, a pathology professor at the Case Western Reserve University medical school.

The British naturalist proposed in 1859 that evolution was the process by which new species of life arise. Today, most scientists embrace evolution through natural selection as the cornerstone of biology.

Although the scientific evidence in support of Darwin's groundbreaking idea continues to pile up, opponents still push to have creationism-tinged alternative ideas about the origin of life taught in public schools. Polls show lay people have significant doubts about evolution, with a majority of Americans believing that God created humans in their present form.

Case Western plans a series of lectures by prominent researchers and other events to make clear the enduring soundness and profound impact of Darwin's concept.

Collaborating with various Case schools and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, planners are inviting evolution-oriented speakers such as molecular biologist Sean Carroll, who's using DNA evidence to probe the origin of the first animals 600 million to 700 million years ago.

The Darwin committee also has invited U.S. District Judge John Jones to speak at Case. In a precedent-setting 2005 trial involving the Dover, Pa., school district, Jones ruled that the teaching of intelligent design as an alternative to evolution was unconstitutional because intelligent design is fundamentally creationism, not science.

Jones' courtroom deputy, Liz O'Donnell, said Monday that the judge is scheduled to speak at Case in September 2008.

Intelligent-design proponents contend that life is too complex to have occurred by chance, requiring instead the guidance of an unnamed supernatural being. Three years before the Dover case, intelligent-design backers unsuccessfully tried to challenge the teaching of evolution in Ohio classrooms as the best explanation for how life arose.

Two veterans of the effort to beat back the Ohio intelligent-design movement - Case physics professor Lawrence Krauss and philosophy lecturer Patricia Princehouse - are on the Darwin committee. But Greenspan insists the celebration's focus will be science, not politics.

"For someone who has an open mind," he said, "the hope would be that they'll see the evidence behind the fundamental ideas Darwin put forward 150 years ago is overwhelming."

After years spent sailing to exotic locales aboard the HMS Beagle to observe nature's dazzling varieties of organisms, Darwin proposed that this diversity of life resulted from evolution via natural selection. Randomly occurring traits like an especially sharp beak or tough hoof that give their bearers a survival advantage over competitors are passed along to subsequent generations, where they become more common.

As time passes and these adaptations accumulate, fine-tuning a population of organisms for their specific surroundings, the creatures eventually become so different from their ancestors that they constitute a new species.

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Reader comments on this story - 14 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Meg wrote on Aug 21, 2007 11:36 AM:

" I am disappointed, although not entirely surprised. While the general theory of evolving over time does have it's merits, Darwin's particular theory of evolution is riddled with holes and wishful thinking. I will venture to say that most people who applaud him haven't actually read his book...if they had, they would know to question it. "

What The Hey wrote on Aug 21, 2007 11:35 AM:

" I am the monkey man, head monkey in monkey land. "

Robert Renman wrote on Aug 21, 2007 11:10 AM:

" Hurrah! I am so happy to see this man is getting positive recognition! Not only is he underrated, but this wonderful man has been undeservedly vilified. "

Cynic wrote on Aug 21, 2007 10:14 AM:

" BTW to cynic you can do better then that. I am disappointed in the lack of thought in that response. You could at least attempt to prove Darwin right. Instead you try to resort to insults. Insults do not prove any Theroy. "

to open mind? wrote on Aug 21, 2007 9:48 AM:

" So who designed your designer? A being capable of designing all of thse life forms you see on Earth must be infinitely more complex than a duck or a human. Who made your designer? "

to: to much ado... wrote on Aug 21, 2007 9:41 AM:

" I'm sure Adolf Hitler feels the same way. I say again, if Darwin was wrong, and scientists continue to grope to explain a creation without a Creator, why honor a man who only started a wild goose chase? "

open mind? wrote on Aug 21, 2007 8:48 AM:

" I think I have an open mind, and the idea that creatures evolve a sharp beak, let alone important organs like an eye or stomach, because they need it to survive, is absolute HOGWASH. Wishing and hoping won't make it so. To look around at the diversity of life, the beauty and organization of it, in spite of man's despoiling- to be blind to the INTELLIGENT DESIGN of it all, requires the opposite of an "open mind". "

to Cynic wrote on Aug 21, 2007 8:41 AM:

" BTW, Cynics are only interesting when they have intelligent commentary. Repeating your pastor isn't exactly intelligent commentary. "

to much ado about a small man wrote on Aug 21, 2007 8:40 AM:

" Because he started it all....evolutionary biology has come a long way since Darwin's original theories. "

Area Resident wrote on Aug 21, 2007 7:16 AM:

" I approve! "

much ado about a small man wrote on Aug 21, 2007 1:08 AM:

" Darwin gets my vote as the most overrated person who ever lived. He had half the intellect of people he is usally compared with, like Isaac Newton, Galileo, and Einstein. OK, so he was a humble English gardener who discovered some unusual species on the Galapagos Islands and they didn't fit his skewed understanding of the Bible so he came up with a pernicious "theory", survival of the fittest, that at least one demented person, Adolph Hitler, has used to justify his attempted extermination of the Jews. The number of scientists who believe Darwin's original theory diminishes every day. So why honor the guy now? "

Gov's Muppet wrote on Aug 20, 2007 6:50 PM:

" Did I read that right biology and evolution go hand in hand? What about Santa Claus. Little green men with pots of gold....... "

Cynic wrote on Aug 20, 2007 4:53 PM:

" Then they will celebrate the tooth fairy and Easter bunny. They both "evolved" from fairy tales to. "

BN Republican wrote on Aug 20, 2007 4:26 PM:

" What a travesty. Anyone important knows that God made everything. "
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