Darwin Sets Sail

According to the Writer's Almanac, today is the day in 1831 that Charles Darwin set sail from England aboard the HMS Beagle for his famed trip to the Galapagos Islands.  That trip and his forthcoming book, On The Origin Of Species, became one of the great milestones in scientific thought.

There are two books for kids on Darwin that I highly recommend.  The first is Peter Sis' book, The Tree of Life.  Published in 2003, it follows Sis' other beautifully illustrated and well researched picture book biographies.  You can see an animated excerpt of the book here.

  The other is Deborah Heiligman's Charles and Emma.  Unlike other biographies on Charles Darwin, this book switches the focus to Charles' relationship with his wife, Emma.  Their marriage greatly influenced Darwin's scientific work.  Emma was a deeply religious woman and Charles was exploring theories that would greatly change social and scientific thought forever.  The book is well-researched and is a great read for both adults and kids.

There are great resources to accompany these titles for classroom use.  Discussion questions, teachers guides and book group materials can be found online.  Both afford students and teachers great critical thinking opportunities and work well with core curriculum standards.

Happy Birthday Galileo Galilei!

This was my Galileo.  He had the most beautiful celestial blue eyes.  But his knowledge of the universe didn't go very far.  Oh, I still believe he was an old soul, but get him talking and what came out wasn't about the heavens.

The birthday we celebrate today isn't his, it's another Galileo's.  One less warm and fuzzy, but perhaps a little more worldly.

Galileo Galilei was one our our greatest astronomers.  

From Leap Into Space:
Galileo Galilei spent a good deal of his life questioning the accepted scientific beliefs of his time that were not proven by experiment.  Galileo heard about the new Dutch instruments built to see the heavens and built one himself…
He found evidence that the Earth was not at its center, just as astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus had theorized. 

His theories caused him to be tried and convicted by the Catholic Church for heresy, but unlike common belief, he was never tortured or excommunicated.  He remained a loyal Catholic throughout his life.

Let's celebrate Galileo's 448th birthday with some of these titles: