Erasmus Darwin, 18th-Century Polymath

Edward J. Kormondy

doi:10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.3

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Edward J. Kormondy^*

^*Edward J. Kormondy (NABT President, 1980) is Chancellor Emeritus at the University of Hawai'i-Hilo and resides at 1388 Lucile Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90026; e-mail: ed.kormondy@gmail.com.

Abstract

Erasmus Darwin was a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, the members of which were referred to as “Lunaticks.” He is here described as a polymath, an 18th-century “natural philosopher” who was a physician, scientist (with interests in botany, zoology, meteorology, chemistry, among others), inventor, and poet who also advanced quite profound evolutionary ideas two generations prior to those of his grandson, Charles Robert Darwin.

© 2011 by National Association of Biology Teachers. All rights reserved. Request permission to photocopy or reproduce article content at the University of California Press's Rights and Permissions Web site at www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintinfo.asp.

Citation Download Citation

Edward J. Kormondy "Erasmus Darwin, 18th-Century Polymath," The American Biology Teacher 73(2), 68-71, (1 February 2011). https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2011.73.2.3

Published: 1 February 2011