For Immediate Release Contact: Nancy O'Shea (312) 665-7103 (For Media Use Only) Voyage of the Beagle The section opens with the original letter that changed Darwin’s life: an invitation to serve as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle as it set out to map the oceans and islands of South America and the South Pacific. Some of the personal items Darwin took along, including a one-shot pistol and his Bible, are featured here, along with a 26-inch scale model of the 90-foot ship. Surrounded by an ocean soundscape, visitors enter the centerpiece of the exhibition: a circular room featuring many of the wonders Darwin saw on his five-year trip—including some of the actual specimens he collected—and tracing his mental journey from a curious amateur observer to a scientist pondering the patterns and connections in what he saw. Live animals play a starring role here: three ornate Argentinean horned frogs and a five-foot-long South American green iguana. Visitors will also see fossils and mounted specimens of the uniquely American plants and animals that captivated Darwin: rheas, giant sloths, and armadillos (including the cast of a huge fossil glyptodont, an extinct armadillo-like creature the size of a cow); Galapagos tortoises with different shell shapes adapted to their specific islands; mockingbirds, penguins, and blue-footed boobies, and much, much more. Notes and letters Darwin sent to friends and family give visitors a glimpse of his excitement, his thought processes…and his problems with seasickness. The Idea Takes Shape Returning to England, Darwin settled in London and began the real voyage of his lifetime—an intellectual journey that continued for years as he examined the specimens he had brought back from his trip and began writing up his research. A number of these specimens are on display here, from lichens to finches, along with the notebooks in which he analyzed them and letters to colleagues that show the development of his thinking. It was in London that Darwin’s revolutionary ideas began to unfold, as dramatically illustrated in the first evolutionary tree Darwin sketched in his notebook. Fascinating displays point out not only the concepts Darwin explored but the evidence on which he based his theory. The London years were also the period when Darwin wooed and won his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, whose family is best known for their superb pottery. (The exhibition includes, early on, the famous Portland Vase given by Josiah Wedgwood to Erasmus Darwin, Charles’s grandfather.) Visitors will be charmed by Charles and Emma’s love letters, and by Darwin’s personal notes debating with himself whether or not to marry. Continue>>