Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism, 1862-1864, Second Edition

The 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species evoked a spectrum of responses, from fervent endorsement to vehement opposition, because of the theory of natural selection’s implications for Western theological and cultural orthodoxy. During the 1860 Oxford gathering of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce engaged in a riveting and widely publicized debate, dissecting the merits and drawbacks of Darwin’s theory. Their...