7 ms·

Darwin's Children Drew All Over the “On The Origin of Species” Manuscript

110 points by wallflower 13y ago

monsterix 13y ago
"Origin of species, daddy? Oh, oh look at how my king eggplant slashed those horrible red carrots out of the land daddy!" This was the best news of the day. :)
- petepete 13y ago
  * aubergine
  - err4nt 13y ago
    technically they are called aubergines and eggplants, but saying 'aubergine' gives blanks stares anywhere I've been in North America. As a designer I love fancying up eggplant dishes on restaurant menus with 'aubergine' in the name if they'll let me, and then still include the word 'eggplant' in the description of the dish for those who aren't aware of the meaning.
    - petepete 13y ago
      Yes, I was merely pointing out that Darwin's children (being British) would not have called it an 'Egg Plant'.
erichurkman 13y ago
I wonder if carrot horses and blueberry camels are more ecologically friendly than their contemporary counterparts. They are most certainly more delicious.
ethana 13y ago
To be honest, those drawings are pretty good and very creative.
jgrahamc 13y ago
If you visit Darwin's home in the UK you'll also see that he had a slide made that fits on the staircase so his kids could slide down it. And there's a section about the effect the death of his daughter had on him. Clearly, a guy who loved his kids.
- err4nt 13y ago
  Say what you want about Darwin's ideas and how they have been used and abused by others, but everything I hear about this guy endears me to him. I'd like to think if I were in alive his time and lived in his neighbourhood that he's the kind of man who could tell a fantastic story, dazzle you with his knowledge and various ideas, but above all be humble enough to treat you with the same respect. I wish I could say the same for scientists today, so many I've run into are so focused on their own area of research that they have lost the ability to relate that learning and wonder they see to anybody who isn't just like themselves.
jmnicolas 13y ago
I hope he flogged these little creationists bastards ! ;-)
- jmnicolas 13y ago
  At least 2 creationists under-appreciate my attempt at humor :-)
  - scott_s 13y ago
    You're relatively new, so you may not know yet that HN generally doesn't like comments that are just jokes. The moderation system exists to promote the signal over the noise, and one-liners are mostly noise.
    - jmnicolas 13y ago
      Why so serious ? <insert Joker pic here> OK I will learn my lesson and try to remain on topic. Thanks for the pointer.
sputknick 13y ago
The "news" takeaway from this is for those of us who are fathers to young children, we can still involve our children in our work, be actively involved in their lives, and still be incredibly successful. I know I'm guilty of sometimes thinking my kids "get in the way" of my career. This is an excellent post for setting us straight, thank you for this. I need to be reminded of this once in a while!
- lutusp 13y ago
  My ideal, beautiful children have never interfered with my work in the slightest, and my ravishing wife has never complained that (as was alleged about Richard Feynman) I never annoyed her by being lost in thoughts about Calculus. My children turned out perfectly, and my wife always looks like Ellen Page on her best day (http://www.nerdacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ellen_page-wide.jpg http://www.nerdacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ellen_page...). The reason? I never married. I never had children. Life is complicated enough without looking for trouble.
  - sentenza 13y ago
    Do you also play computer games on easy mode? But joking aside, I personally must say that the chaos that having children brought to my life is a positive aspect of the whole experience. It keeps me from becoming complacent and has forced me to develop some intrisical organizational habits and discipline.
    - lutusp 13y ago
      > Do you also play computer games on easy mode? :) Computer games are no problem -- they never say, "What have you done for me lately?" Win or lose, you can walk away. I emphasize I'm not pretending that my choices are suitable for anyone else. To each his/her own.
      - nfoz 13y ago
        > :) Computer games are no problem -- they never say, "What have you done for me lately?" Win or lose, you can walk away. You've never played an MMO...
thegreategatsby 13y ago
isnt it great: interested browsers can also check out the Darwin Manuscripts Project, a collaborative initiative based at the American Museum of Natural History.
nicky0 13y ago
"Much flatulence. Had an egg & toast this morning."
- aurelius 13y ago
  I saw that too, and LOL'd.
- jtheory 13y ago
  That caught my eye as well! No mention in the article, but on the scribbled out page of Emma Darwin's diary, she's describing how she's been ill, and what she's been eating (interestingly, I suspect she was trying to see if what she ate helped/harmed how she felt). Starting on Sunday, it says: Sick from half-past 12 to 5. 9 or 10 __ ___ copiously ___ ... Took only ____ 2 raw eggs ... Eliza __.. afternoon slept tolerably but much flatulence. had an egg + toast this morning. feels [sic?] pretty well.
madaxe_again 13y ago
25th April, 1840, Emma Darwin's diary - "Babbage". Charles Babbage. Neat.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- smoyer 13y ago
  I noticed that too ... perhaps Darwin and Babbage were going to collaborate on a book (tentatively titled "Computation of the Species by Natural Selection") which dealt with the probability of traits being passed on?
shubhamjain 13y ago
Can anyone help me understand why the writings of great authors, theorists of past are barely legible. More examples like, War and Peace[1], or Lord of the Rings[2]. I can barely comprehend a word, let alone the whole text. [1]:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Tolstoy_-_War_and_Peace_-_ninth_draft.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Tolstoy_-... [2]:http://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tolkien-manuscript.jpg http://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tolkien-manus...
- tinco 13y ago
  I think it's because they write mostly for themselves and mostly as fast as they were thinking of things. It's better to have to interpret something for your publicist, then to lose a thought you had while focusing on writing. There's some notable exceptions by the way, you can't have a post on academic handwriting without mentioning Dijkstra: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1300.PDF http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1300.PDF Funny, I hadn't recently read the article I linked before posting it, and in the first paragraph he actually explains why he writes so prettily. Although the context is programming notation: "[..] the underlying idea of which is that, even if you have only 60 readers, it pays to spend an hour if by doing so you can save your average reader a minute."
- RamiK 13y ago
  Because those writers you've mentioned drafted on paper with the purpose of releasing to print.
- lucozade 13y ago
  It's an established fact that all highly intelligent people have bad handwriting. I made a note of the reference for this but, unfortunately, I can't read what it says.
- arnsholt 13y ago
  An important factor is simply time. Handwriting styles change over time, and the cursive styles used in the past are especially hard to read for modern readers, since as we write less and less by hand, cursive writing (which is optimised for speed of writing) is rapidly falling out of use. And since we're not used to them, they're hard to read.
tonetheman 13y ago
As children should
gus_massa 13y ago
Is there any hint that the children understood part of the topics or the drawings are totally unrelated? (I prefer to use "hint" instead of "proof", because it's easy to cherrypick some drawings and find whatever meaning you want.) I have a daughter and when she asks what I'm working in, I try to explain it. (Usually Maths or Physic. Apparently, I always start the explanation with "It's complicated. ..." because she mocks me.) For example, I think that the topic of artificial selection is easy enough to explain to a child, and it's not difficult to make a drawing about it.
- analog31 13y ago
  I find, if I can't explain the nitty gritty details, I can still talk about why the work is interesting to myself and to other people, what it's like to work on it, and why it's fun!
awda 13y ago
Ah, and here I thought the title was linkbait for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Children .
diydsp 13y ago
Famous Fact: the second half of the title of the famous book is: "or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life."

110 points by wallflower 13y ago

"Origin of species, daddy? Oh, oh look at how my king eggplant slashed those horrible red carrots out of the land daddy!" This was the best news of the day. :)

petepete 13y ago
* aubergine
- err4nt 13y ago
  technically they are called aubergines and eggplants, but saying 'aubergine' gives blanks stares anywhere I've been in North America. As a designer I love fancying up eggplant dishes on restaurant menus with 'aubergine' in the name if they'll let me, and then still include the word 'eggplant' in the description of the dish for those who aren't aware of the meaning.
  - petepete 13y ago
    Yes, I was merely pointing out that Darwin's children (being British) would not have called it an 'Egg Plant'.

erichurkman 13y ago

I wonder if carrot horses and blueberry camels are more ecologically friendly than their contemporary counterparts. They are most certainly more delicious.

ethana 13y ago

To be honest, those drawings are pretty good and very creative.

jgrahamc 13y ago

If you visit Darwin's home in the UK you'll also see that he had a slide made that fits on the staircase so his kids could slide down it. And there's a section about the effect the death of his daughter had on him. Clearly, a guy who loved his kids.

err4nt 13y ago
Say what you want about Darwin's ideas and how they have been used and abused by others, but everything I hear about this guy endears me to him. I'd like to think if I were in alive his time and lived in his neighbourhood that he's the kind of man who could tell a fantastic story, dazzle you with his knowledge and various ideas, but above all be humble enough to treat you with the same respect. I wish I could say the same for scientists today, so many I've run into are so focused on their own area of research that they have lost the ability to relate that learning and wonder they see to anybody who isn't just like themselves.

jmnicolas 13y ago

I hope he flogged these little creationists bastards ! ;-)

jmnicolas 13y ago
At least 2 creationists under-appreciate my attempt at humor :-)
- scott_s 13y ago
  You're relatively new, so you may not know yet that HN generally doesn't like comments that are just jokes. The moderation system exists to promote the signal over the noise, and one-liners are mostly noise.
  - jmnicolas 13y ago
    Why so serious ? <insert Joker pic here> OK I will learn my lesson and try to remain on topic. Thanks for the pointer.

sputknick 13y ago

The "news" takeaway from this is for those of us who are fathers to young children, we can still involve our children in our work, be actively involved in their lives, and still be incredibly successful. I know I'm guilty of sometimes thinking my kids "get in the way" of my career. This is an excellent post for setting us straight, thank you for this. I need to be reminded of this once in a while!

lutusp 13y ago
My ideal, beautiful children have never interfered with my work in the slightest, and my ravishing wife has never complained that (as was alleged about Richard Feynman) I never annoyed her by being lost in thoughts about Calculus. My children turned out perfectly, and my wife always looks like Ellen Page on her best day (http://www.nerdacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ellen_page-wide.jpg http://www.nerdacy.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/ellen_page...). The reason? I never married. I never had children. Life is complicated enough without looking for trouble.
- sentenza 13y ago
  Do you also play computer games on easy mode? But joking aside, I personally must say that the chaos that having children brought to my life is a positive aspect of the whole experience. It keeps me from becoming complacent and has forced me to develop some intrisical organizational habits and discipline.
  - lutusp 13y ago
    > Do you also play computer games on easy mode? :) Computer games are no problem -- they never say, "What have you done for me lately?" Win or lose, you can walk away. I emphasize I'm not pretending that my choices are suitable for anyone else. To each his/her own.
    - nfoz 13y ago
      > :) Computer games are no problem -- they never say, "What have you done for me lately?" Win or lose, you can walk away. You've never played an MMO...

thegreategatsby 13y ago

isnt it great: interested browsers can also check out the Darwin Manuscripts Project, a collaborative initiative based at the American Museum of Natural History.

nicky0 13y ago

"Much flatulence. Had an egg & toast this morning."

aurelius 13y ago
I saw that too, and LOL'd.
jtheory 13y ago
That caught my eye as well! No mention in the article, but on the scribbled out page of Emma Darwin's diary, she's describing how she's been ill, and what she's been eating (interestingly, I suspect she was trying to see if what she ate helped/harmed how she felt). Starting on Sunday, it says: Sick from half-past 12 to 5. 9 or 10 __ ___ copiously ___ ... Took only ____ 2 raw eggs ... Eliza __.. afternoon slept tolerably but much flatulence. had an egg + toast this morning. feels [sic?] pretty well.

madaxe_again 13y ago

25th April, 1840, Emma Darwin's diary - "Babbage". Charles Babbage. Neat.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
smoyer 13y ago
I noticed that too ... perhaps Darwin and Babbage were going to collaborate on a book (tentatively titled "Computation of the Species by Natural Selection") which dealt with the probability of traits being passed on?

shubhamjain 13y ago

Can anyone help me understand why the writings of great authors, theorists of past are barely legible. More examples like, War and Peace[1], or Lord of the Rings[2]. I can barely comprehend a word, let alone the whole text. [1]:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Tolstoy_-_War_and_Peace_-_ninth_draft.jpg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Tolstoy_-... [2]:http://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tolkien-manuscript.jpg http://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/tolkien-manus...

tinco 13y ago
I think it's because they write mostly for themselves and mostly as fast as they were thinking of things. It's better to have to interpret something for your publicist, then to lose a thought you had while focusing on writing. There's some notable exceptions by the way, you can't have a post on academic handwriting without mentioning Dijkstra: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1300.PDF http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd13xx/EWD1300.PDF Funny, I hadn't recently read the article I linked before posting it, and in the first paragraph he actually explains why he writes so prettily. Although the context is programming notation: "[..] the underlying idea of which is that, even if you have only 60 readers, it pays to spend an hour if by doing so you can save your average reader a minute."
RamiK 13y ago
Because those writers you've mentioned drafted on paper with the purpose of releasing to print.
lucozade 13y ago
It's an established fact that all highly intelligent people have bad handwriting. I made a note of the reference for this but, unfortunately, I can't read what it says.
arnsholt 13y ago
An important factor is simply time. Handwriting styles change over time, and the cursive styles used in the past are especially hard to read for modern readers, since as we write less and less by hand, cursive writing (which is optimised for speed of writing) is rapidly falling out of use. And since we're not used to them, they're hard to read.

tonetheman 13y ago

As children should

gus_massa 13y ago

Is there any hint that the children understood part of the topics or the drawings are totally unrelated? (I prefer to use "hint" instead of "proof", because it's easy to cherrypick some drawings and find whatever meaning you want.) I have a daughter and when she asks what I'm working in, I try to explain it. (Usually Maths or Physic. Apparently, I always start the explanation with "It's complicated. ..." because she mocks me.) For example, I think that the topic of artificial selection is easy enough to explain to a child, and it's not difficult to make a drawing about it.

analog31 13y ago
I find, if I can't explain the nitty gritty details, I can still talk about why the work is interesting to myself and to other people, what it's like to work on it, and why it's fun!

awda 13y ago

Ah, and here I thought the title was linkbait for https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Children https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_Children .

diydsp 13y ago

Famous Fact: the second half of the title of the famous book is: "or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life."