Happy Birthday Darwin!!

Charles Darwin would be my answer to that timeless question; "If you could have dinner with any historical figure who would it be."

Seriously, what an amazing guy.  Above and beyond the theory of evolution, which is still ahead of its time in many ways, he was also a world traveler, a wonderful thinker, a champion artist, prolific writer (you can check out his complete works online, including much of his personal correspondence which I find fascinating thanks to this amazing project...), possessed the dedication to study barnacles for many years...  ...and he married his cousin!

Admittedly, I might be a bit biased, being a (much more humble) scientist in my own right but I still think that his powers of observation were astounding.  Just read his journals and letters to see what I mean.  His theories he worked on for 20+ years.  They are written in picture perfect English that still manages to sound contemporary today.  They are amazing... but its his observations of the moment I find most astounding.  His thoughts on all the species of plants and animals he saw immediately after climbing a mountain in Peru for instance, before having a chance to work it all out in his head.  His descriptions of all the myriad colors of rain forest flora and fauna.  His painstaking descriptions of each and every species of beetle he could find.

Maybe having sailed on a ship for 5 years gives you a lot of time just to think, but I'll admit that I don't notice even a fraction of the details of the world around me on a given day.

So... I say again, Happy Birthday Darwin and I highly recommend everyone check out a chapter of his Beagle diary, or a letter or two...