Celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin

Every year around 12 February, institutions, scholars and science enthusiasts around the world mark Darwin Day, celebrating the birth of Charles Darwin and reflecting on the enduring influence of his ideas on science and on our understanding of the natural world.

In 2026, the occasion will be marked by a series of events involving our trustees and collaborators across the UK, Europe and the United States. Several trustees will take part in a celebration at the Linnean Society connected to the UNESCO Memory of the World recognition, highlighting the global significance of Darwin’s work and its preservation.

Professor James Costa will deliver a Darwin Day lecture at Yale University offering a preview of the forthcoming annotated edition of The Descent of Man. His talk will explore Darwin’s key arguments through the lens of his exchanges and debates with Alfred Russel Wallace, with particular attention to human evolution and sexual selection.

“Crushed under a mountain of facts”. Darwin, Wallace, and the shaping of Descent

• Dr James T. Costa, Highlands Biological Station, Western Carolina University
• 4:00 pm, 12 February 2026, 10 Sachem Room 105, Yale University

Drawing on new research developed with historian of science Elizabeth Yale, Costa will examine the origin and evolution of The Descent of Man, Darwin’s second major work and revisit Darwin’s arguments on human evolution and sexual selection in dialogue with Wallace.

In Italy, Dr Chiara Ceci will speak at the Darwin Day at the Natural History Museum in Milanas part of a two day programme on communicating evolution today. Her talk will explore Darwin as a communicator and the challenge of explaining a theory that reshaped how we understand nature, from On the Origin of Species to the legacy of Down House.