The Moment the World Changed

New research at the University of Birmingham on Darwin's Origin of Species, first published in 1859, 150 years ago today, has uncovered the moment when Darwin saw that his thought had changed the world forever. Barbara Bordalejo, of the University's Institute for Textual Scholarship and Electronic Editing at the University, today published online her Variorum Edition of Darwin's Origin. To make this edition she compared word-by-word all six British editions of the Origin published in Darwin's lifetime. She tracked more than 15,000 changes Darwin made in the five editions after the 1859 edition and studied how Darwin shaped the book according to his developing sense of what he had achieved. Bordalejo says, 'My research shows that the most significant changes came as Darwin became more confident in his own theory, and more determined to see that it was understood by others as clearly as possible. Thus, throughout the five later editions, he removes phrases like "I think", "I presume", and tightens up the prose, presenting arguments more decisively and objectively. She continues, 'In effect, his prose changes from that of a gentleman naturalist, to something more like the more impersonal style found in modern scientific publications.