Erasmus Darwin

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The loveable chubby chops of Erasmus Darwin, as seen on a bust in Derby Central Museum and Library.

Erasmus Darwin (1731–1802), was an English physician, natural philosopher, physiologist, inventor and poet. He was one of the founder members of the Lunar Society, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers. His grandson was Charles Darwin. He developed a theory of evolution,[1] which, though similar to Lamarckism,[2] probably inspired Charles's thoughts on the subject. His first name, Erasmus, is after the Dutch Humanist philosopher of that name.

[edit] Other achievements

  • Inventing the horizontal windmill,[3] a speaking machine and an artificial bird.
  • campaigning against slavery.
  • making a sketch of a liquid-fuelled rocket.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. In his Zoonomia and the posthumously published Temple of nature he postulated that animals and plants developed from simpler forms.
  2. His version was in fact proposed before Lamarck's, but renaming Lamarckism Darwinism would be far too confusing
  3. According to Wikipedia anyway...
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