1844: Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation is published anonymously; the author is later revealed to be Robert Chambers [194]

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Art Piece: Head of a Bearded Man, Michelangelo, 15th-16th century [122]

Science can be competitive and hard to navigate, with one misstep seemingly deciding the course of where you may end up — at least in Darwin’s view, this was the case after Vestiges was anonymously published. Though Vestiges did find an audience to read [156] it, many of Darwin’s contemporaries admonished [150] it, with one of Darwin’s mentors even wondering if it was written by a woman due what he thought was the poor quality of the book’s content. This frightened Darwin, and also pushed him to realize that if he was going to publish his own theories, that he needed to make them more airtight, more so than Vestiges. Although Vestiges was not popular amongst many intellectuals close to Darwin, the text still represented a paradigm shift — it shook up intellectual conversations of that time, and prompted Darwin to hone his own theories more finely. The publishing of Vestiges also showcases how science is oftentimes a competitive game — imagine if Vestiges had been well received by Darwin’s contemporaries. If that had been the case, then would Darwin’s Magnum Opus have been received as well, or would it have seemed as though it was in a way possibly “copying” Vestiges? Why is it that most people know the name Charles Darwin, while not really knowing who Robert Chambers is? The artwork above [122] is a piece by Michelangelo, who is said [121] to have had a competitive relationship with his fellow Florentine artist, Leonardo da Vinci. Michelangelo and Leonardo were both very notable (their own works being paradigm shifts within society and the world of art), and their competition is very plausibly what Darwin may have felt upon Vestiges being published — Darwin may not have known from the beginning whether Chambers’ work would succeed or flop, and although it did flop amongst Darwin’s contemporaries, it still prompted Darwin to get to work on his own theories to make them even better. The competition between ideas — both between Michelangelo and da Vinci, as well as between Darwin and other similar theories regarding evolution — is representative here. Moreover, the scientific paper above [195] details competition in science as well. The competition to publish, to get grants, to find a “better” academic job are all pressures that many scientists even today still feel, and this paper does a great job of exploring this competition. The paradigm shift of the Vestiges was a large one, but one that ultimately spurred Darwin to write his own magnum opus with a more keen eye.