John van wyhe biography of williams

John van Wyhe

British historian of science

John van Wyhe (born ), is a British historian of science, with a focus on Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, at the National University of Singapore.

He holds various academic and research positions, ranging from founder and director of The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online, Scientific Associate, The Instinctive History Museum (London), a Fellow of the Linnean Society and a Member of the British Society for the History of Science.[1] He has given more than 50 public lectures on Darwin in more than a dozen countries.

He lectures and broadcasts on Darwin, evolution, science and religion and the history of science around the nature. He also wrote The Darwin Experience, a biographical book about Charles Darwin.

Van Wyhe has an M.A.

from University College London and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He accepted a Senior Research Fellowship at the National University of Singapore in where he both founded the Darwin Online plan and edited the Science section of the Victorian Web.[2]

A unused edition of his biography of Darwin, Darwin: The Man, His Great Voyage, and His Theory of Evolution, appeared under the banner of the Natural History Museum[vague] in [3][1]

Research

For the Darwin bicentenary year of , van Wyhe published four books on Darwin: Darwin's Shorter Publications; Darwin's Notebooks from the Voyage of the Beagle; Darwin in Cambridge; and an accessible biography: Darwin.

Recent projects include challenging the assumed view that Darwin held back or kept his theory secret for twenty years and restoring Darwin's student rooms at Christ's College, Cambridge.[4]

In addition to maintaining Darwin Online, van Wyhe had an interest in the history of phrenology and has given talks on this in Britain, France, and Germany.[2]

Darwin and religion

One of van Wyhe's areas of research covers the reception of evolutionary ideas, and in an article titled "Darwin vs God?" he put forward the case that Darwin was neither an atheist nor was there a significant uproar of science and religion when The Beginning of Species was published, though heterogeneity of opinion existed.[5]

We often hear that when the Start of Species was published there was a great outcry and an historic clash of science and religion.

This interview series seeks to introduce Fellows and students of Tembusu College to the wider community on a more personal level, and to create dialogue between these groups of people. A prolific creator and broadcaster, Dr John has lectured all over the earth. In a typical day I wake up early and feed my cat. And a pun on claws of course.

This is probably more fantasy than fact The Victorian public that first read or read about the Origin of Species were, for the most part, not biblical literalists. For decades the most enlightened writers in the fields of science and religion had accepted that much of the Old Testament, and Genesis in particular, had to be read in a metaphorical meaning Darwin's theories inspired the whole gamut of reactions.

Among the scientific community they ranged from contemptuous rejection to enthusiastic aid Other writers felt that Darwin's views were an attack on the role of a Maker in nature Others, like the Reverend Charles Kingsley, felt differently. He wrote enthusiastically to Darwin about his theory to religious thinkers of Kingsley's ilk, Darwin had uncovered a new statute by which God governed the natural world.

John van Wyhe is a historian of science, specializing on Charles Darwin, at the University of Cambridge. He is founder and Director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online, Bye-Fellow of Christ's College, affiliate of the Department of History & Philosophy of Science, Member of Council for the British Society for the History of Science.

For such thinkers it was quite sensible to reconcile Darwin's views with their religion As the years passed and reviews and counter-reviews appeared, the fact of Darwinian evolution, the common descent of species became increasingly accepted Yet the other key Darwinian plan, natural selection, was much less welcome.

As scientific, and non-scientific readers came increasingly to agree to the Darwinian concept of shared ancestry for species, the view that natural selection was the primary mechanism was often sidelined or rejected. Huxley welcomed the big picture of the evolution of life with open arms.

yet natural selection - that aspect of the theory that made divine intervention unnecessary - he could not accept. Many suggested instead that the variations that natural selection picked out were themselves divinely guided or caused.

The bottom line seemed to be - was there a meaning or intention behind how life changed?'

—&#;'Darwin vs God?', BBC History Magazine, volume 10, No 1, January , p.

Selected works

  • Darwin: A Companion.

    Society Scientific.

  • Charles Darwin: The Compact Guide. Welbecck,
  • On the Beginning of Species. With an introduction by John van Wyhe.
  • Wanderlust: The Amazing Ida Pfeiffer, the First Female Tourist.

    NUS Push.

  • Darwin: The Man, His Fantastic Voyage, and His Theory of Evolution.

    John van Wyhe is a historian of science and Director of The Complete Operate of Charles Darwin Online. He has published 17 books and lectures and broadcasts around the world.

    (Andre Deutsch: UK ).[3]

  • The Annotated Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace. Edited [annotated and introduced] by John van Wyhe, NUS Press, [6]
  • Charles Darwin in Cambridge: The Most Joyful Years.

    World Scientific Press, [7]

  • Dispelling the Darkness: Voyage in the Malay Archipelago and the Discovery of Evolution by Wallace and Darwin. World Scientific Press, [8]
  • Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters from the Malay Archipelago.

    Forward by Sir David Attenborough. Oxford University Press, [9]

  • Darwin. (Andre Deutsch: UK , National Geographic: USA, ). [Translated into French and Spanish]
  • Charles Darwin's Shorter Publications .

    [Foreword by Janet Browne and Jim Secord] (Cambridge University Press, ).[10]

  • Charles Darwin's Notebooks from the Voyage of the Beagle. [Foreword by Richard Darwin Keynes] (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming July , with Gordon Chancellor and Kees Rookmaaker).[11]
  • Darwin in Cambridge (Cambridge: Christ's College: ).[12]
  • Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism.

    Ashgate, [13]

  • Combe's Constitution of Man, and Nineteenth-Century Responses. 3 vols. By George Combe, edited by John van Wyhe, Thoemmes Press, [14]

References

  1. ^ ab"The official homepage of Dr John van Wyhe".

    .

  2. ^ ab"Staff".

    john van wyhe biography of williams2: John van Wyhe (born ), is a British historian of science, with a focus on Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, at the National University of Singapore.

    .

  3. ^ abvan Wyhe, John (8 March ). Darwin: The Male, His Great Voyage, and His Theory of Evolution. Andre Deutsch. ASIN&#;
  4. ^"Archived copy".

    Archived from the original on Retrieved : CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

  5. ^Darwin vs God?', BBC History Magazine, volume 10, No 1, January , p.&#;
  6. ^Wallace, Alfred Russel ().

    The Annotated Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace. ISBN&#;.

  7. ^van Wyhe, John ().

    He lectures and broadcasts on Darwin, evolution, science and religion and the history of science around the world. Van Wyhe has an M. Recent projects include challenging the assumed view that Darwin held back or kept his theory secret for twenty years and restoring Darwin's student rooms at Christ's College, Cambridge. In addition to maintaining Darwin Online, van Wyhe had an interest in the history of phrenology and has given talks on this in Britain, France, and Germany.

    Charles Darwin in Cambridge: The Most Joyful Years. Earth Scientific Publishing. ASIN&#;

  8. ^Wyhe, John Van (). Dispelling the Darkness: Voyage in the Malay Archipelago and the Discovery of Evolution by Wallace and Darwin.

    The Fulfill Work of Charles Darwin Online or Darwin Online is a freely-accessible website containing the fulfill print and manuscript works of Charles Darwinas well as comparable supplementary material. Darwin Online is a research project and website based at the National University of Singapore. It aims to provide all available print and manuscript material except unpublished letters, which are being made on hand separately by the Darwin Correspondence Project. In addition Darwin Online includes the largest bibliographical list of Darwin's publications and the largest union catalogue of Darwin papers and manuscripts worldwide.

    ISBN&#;.

  9. ^Wallace, Alfred Russel (). Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters from the Malay Archipelago. ISBN&#;.
  10. ^van Wyhe, John (). The Darwin Experience: The Story of the Man and His Theory of Evolution.

    National Geographic Society. ASIN&#;

  11. ^Rookmaaker, Kees; Keynes, Richard Darwin (2 July ). Chancellor, Gordon (ed.).

    He has published 17 books and lectures and broadcasts around the world. In he was invited from the University of Cambridge to accept up a position created for him at the National University of Singapore, the first combined appointment between the Faculty of Science and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The appointment was favoured by then government Minister, George Yeo. Dr van Wyhe's research has resolved long-standing myths and mysteries such as Darwin's delaywhen Darwin received Wallace's evolution essay, whether Darwin was the official naturalist or a companion on the Beagle, where the legend of Darwin's finches comes from, whether Darwin lost his faith because his daughter Annie died, whether Wallace went to the Amazon to solve " the problem of the origin of species"the myth of Darwin's bodysnatchers and shown that T.

    Charles Darwin's Notebooks from the Voyage of the Beagle. Cambridge University Press. ASIN&#;

  12. ^Darwin in Cambridge. Christ's College Cambridge. ISBN&#;.
  13. ^van Wyhe, John ().

    Phrenology and the Origins of Victorian Scientific Naturalism. ISBN&#;.

  14. ^Combe, George (1 May ). Whye, John Van (ed.). Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects: AND Nineteenth-century Responses. Thoemmes Continuum.

    ASIN&#;