Derek+Belanger+Week+5

There are many discoveries in science. Everyday new things are learned about our world, how things are made where other things come from, how different things interact ECT. Most of these studies go unnoticed by the general public and there is not much attention given to these discoveries. Though on occasion there is a break through, a single idea that is so controversial that it rocks the foundations of science, and even the world. The most prominent of these discoveries is that published in the book Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. This discovery was so great and attention grabbing it seems to sweep over the world like a plague. Though Darwin was “happiest at his microscopes, and shunned the public eye” (AMNS), it is lucky for us that Darwin’s idea was carried so greatly by the public. As we all know the science is only part to the success of a great discovery, the other half is media attention. Darwin became almost a household name in a very short time because of the coverage and distribution of his work. People where enormously empresses that such a man could publish a book that completely challenges the word of the Bible and the book of Genesis. Thus word of mouth and the growing rate at which people were learning to read jump started Darwin’s success. Like Boyle and Pasture, Darwin’s work changed the face of the world, but Darwin is not associated with them for one reason. Boyle and Pasture both being great scientists did not have the everlasting glory that Newton and Einstein and Darwin all share. This is the power that media coverage of scientific discoveries has. The more people know about the true mechanics of a discovery and the more of a story there is behind the droll old science, the more adept the masses will accept it and turn away from conventional wisdom. Darwin himself is point in case, so many people followed the rule of the church, but after Darwin’s theory of natural selection this number greatly diminished. Why? Because of the wide spread knowledge of his science. Darwin’s theory becoming so popular “enabled us to decipher our genes and fight viruses, and to understand Earth's fossil record and rich biodiversity. Simple yet at times controversial, misunderstood and misused for social goals, the theory remains unchallenged as the central concept of biology. Charles Darwin, reluctant revolutionary, profoundly altered our view of the natural world and our place in it.”(AMNS)