Marina Warner (
LRB 09-Apr-2009) states that
Edward Heron-Allen ‘wrote the definitive work on barnacles’. Polymath that Heron-Allen undoubtedly was, as is usually the case in matters biological, the definitive work on barnacles is by Charles Darwin, namely his series of monographs on
living and
fossil cirripedia (1851-55).
–
Richard Carter, FCD
The Friends of Charles Darwin
See also: Royal Society podcast – The Singular Life of Edward Heron-Allen FRS (mp3)
Today is my 44th birthday.
Charles Darwin spent his 44th birthday working on barnacles, his great theory of evolution by means of Natural Selection already documented and filed away, to be published in the event of his untimely death. I shall be spending the afternoon of my 44th birthday in the pub, drinking nice, non-chilled, British beer with friends and family. Barnacles or beer: it’s a fine line between scientific genius and having a life.
Those many thousands of you who are racked with guilt for having forgotten yet again to send me a birthday card, will no doubt want to make amends by making a small donation to the Beagle Project. Tell them it’s in lieu of Richard’s birthday card. They’ll know what you mean.
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