Infidels, Mailmen & Barnacles: Building Charles Darwin's Universe
Channel: Nerd Nite East Bay
Date: 2014-01-29

Alex Lee at Nerd Nite East Bay #1, The Stork Club, 28-Oct-2013

Charles Darwin is famous today for his theory of evolution by natural selection, a discovery enabled by his insatiable curiosity, attention to detail, and obsessing more than most about the finches he found near South America. His voyage to South America on the HMS Beagle is what many of us are told about Darwin, but his journey to evolution was, of course, far more complicated. It starts centuries before Darwin, when the few who dared talked about evolution were labeled as infidels, and innovations in the postal system enabled decades of Darwin's important research. Some of the stories sound like curious footnotes in the history of evolution, but they are part of the foundation of Charles Darwin's life and discoveries. You'll discover that the history of evolution and Darwin is far more than the voyage of the Beagle.

Alex Lee discovered his love of evolution and Charles Darwin at UC Davis where he got his B.S. in evolution and ecology. Even after leaving school he couldn't stop reading about Darwin's life. He's now a docent at the California Academy of Sciences, where you can find him obsessing about invertebrates. 

Credits
Bosses: Rick Karnesky and Ian Davis
Video Editor: Ami Eaton
Videography: Amber Crabbe and Claudia Martin
Audio Recording: Christian Lunch