![Sample our Geography journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5937/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Geography.jpg"})
Abtract
Science is now widely understood as a social activity. Any history of scientific ideas must therefore take account of the contexts in which science is produced. This paper examines ideas about evolution in Edinburgh in the 16 years following the first publication of Charles Darwin's ‘The Origin of species’ (1859). Attention is paid to the sites in which Darwinism was debated in relation to ideas on the geography of science. The paper looks at the critical reception of Darwinism in journals, within the university, in popular understanding, and also in relation to the political and ecclesiastical topography of late nineteenth century Edinburgh society. The paper situates a key theory in the natural sciences as an issue in the historical geography of ideas.