Down home with Darwin, at 200

[Lionel Mandrake]

Down House was for decades Charles Darwin's English home, where he would think, write and enjoy family life. It reopens this week to mark the bicentennial of the great scientist's birth.

By Henry Chu
February 12, 2009

Reporting from Downe, England -- The house that helped rock the world is spacious but not grand. It sits on a country lane in the south of England, at the edge of a tranquil meadow recently whitewashed by an unusual snowfall.

Here, the great scientist worked with inexhaustible patience in his Victorian study, staring for hours at specimens through a microscope or pondering the riddle of life. In a black armchair specially fitted with wheels, Charles Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species," the book that forever changed the way we look at the world around us -- and at ourselves.

For the rest of this LA Times story, including a photo of Down House, browse

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-darwin-mania12-2009feb12,1,7241257.story

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That's a great story!

It very compellingly tells us about his life in the context of how he lived it: Right there at Down House.

The man made one voyage out in the Beagle, and spent the rest of his life, working from his home. He knew how to travel in his mind, to our great benefit.

[Lionel Mandrake]

2. True, but did you notice anything funny about the headline?

The headline displays a typical form of journalistic humor. I didn't get it at first.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Omigod!

I had to work on it, but I did finally get it!

Those people work overtime, I think!

:rofl:

[Lionel Mandrake]

4. Heh heh.