DOWNE, England — Today, 200 years after his birth on Feb. 12, 1809, Darwin seems to be everywhere in his native land.
His bushy-bearded face graces numerous television programs exploring the impact of his ideas. Prominent Britons dissect his life and times on the radio. The city of Shrewsbury, Darwin’s birthplace, is lighting up buildings at night with huge projected images and films relating to its most famous son.
Libraries, art galleries, zoos, choral groups, universities, museums and, a little ironically, churches all own a piece of the extravaganza celebrating Darwin’s bicentennial, a year- long series of 300 events that make up one of the most extensive national commemorations of a single person ever to be held in this country.
That may only be fitting for someone whose revolutionary theory of how life evolved leaped over the boundaries of pure science and into so many other spheres — politics, religion, economics, the arts.
“It’s difficult to overstate how pervasive Darwin’s work is,” said Robert Bloomfield, coordinator of the organization Darwin200 and head of special projects at London’s Natural History Museum. “He undoubtedly produced the biggest idea in science in the 19th century and, some people say, of all time. Because when you question your relationship to nature, you question everything.”
