For Immediate Release Contact: Nancy O'Shea (312) 665-7103 (For Media Use Only) DARWIN Exhibition Brings to Life the Man Who Revolutionized the Science of Biology There is a grandeur in this view of life,…that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species When 22-year-old Charles Darwin stepped aboard the HMS Beagle in 1831, he took with him little more than a magnifying glass, a stack of notebooks, and an open mind. For five years the young amateur naturalist collected wildlife, plants, and ancient fossils from South America, Australia, Capetown, and beyond. Patiently and in meticulous detail, Darwin observed these “endless forms most beautiful,” and as he did he pondered the similarities that seemed to link species across time and space. Those insights ultimately led him to conclusions that would change forever how we see ourselves and our living world. Now visitors can join this ongoing voyage of discovery in a fascinating new exhibition, Darwin, at the Field Museum from June 15, 2007, through January 1, 2008. The exhibition is organized by the American Museum of Natural History, New York in collaboration with The Field Museum, Chicago; the Museum of Science, Boston; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto; and the Natural History Museum, London. “Never before has this much ‘Darwinia’ been brought together,” says Olivier Rieppel, chair of the Field’s Geology Department, curator of fossil amphibians and reptiles, and a member of the exhibition’s organizing team. Through personal belongings and photographs, manuscripts and letters, and hundreds of scientific specimens—including live horned frogs, a green iguana, and delicate orchids—the exhibition sheds light on Darwin’s personal life and times, his historic trip around the world, the dramatic development of his scientific theory, and the ways it shapes our lives today. Interviews with contemporary scientists, interactive displays, and Darwin’s own “Eureka!” moments bring home to visitors exactly what scientists mean when they talk about Darwin’s “theory of evolution by natural selection.” Continue>>