Myth 7 - That Darwin Was a Recluse, and a Theoretician Rather Than a Practical Scientist

Summary

The image of Darwin as a lone thinker, a theoretician who worked largely in isolation rather than a hands-on scientist, has no single origin but is stubbornly persistent. Modern accounts that do feature him as a practical researcher tend to emphasize the domestic setting of his work, focusing on experiments that can be replicated in a modern house, garden, or school. But contemporary evidence, in particular from Darwin’s extensive correspondence, demonstrates that he was an ingenious and innovative experimenter, keenly aware of advances in science, and often at the cutting edge both in the nature of his investigations and in the technologies he employed. Far from working alone on gathering facts and grinding out his theories, Darwin was expert at cultivating and exploiting contacts. He actively sought collaboration with all sorts of people around the world, both asking for their help and encouraging their own investigations. Although he rarely travelled after settling in the village of Down in Kent as a young married man, Darwin’s version of ‘working from home’ was far from solitary: he was surrounded not only by a large and happy family but by governesses, gardeners, friends, neighbors, and visitors, who acted as critics, assistants, editors, and even as research subjects.