When it was first founded, science fans were thrilled with the idea of a St. Louis Science Center. Many hoped for a melding of Forest Park’s Planetarium exhibits on space and physics, and Chicago’s excellent Museum of Natural History.
What we got was something else. Over time, the science center skewed younger and younger. Special exhibits have become less about science and more about entertainment, ranging from the Titanic to pirates.
While the Science Center does well with physics, with bits on perception, weather and geology, biology has always been a weaker point. The Science Center has plenty on dinosaurs but something has been missing: evolution.
Why would an institution called the science center ignore one of the central tenets of biology and its discoverer? A few years back, I posed this question to Science Center staff and was told that many parents visiting with children would express delight with the exhibits, but then ask why there is no creationism exhibit. Clearly, some educational effort on the topic of evolution was needed.
Finally, the Science Center has directly addressed the issue. It was worth the wait.
The free multi-media, interactive “Darwin: A Reluctant Revolutionary” exhibit is, simply put, completely marvelous. Attractive, informative, engrossing and pleasingly complete without being overwhelming, the exhibit includes videos, skeletal and mounted specimens, samples of Darwin’s writings and hands-on displays. It has something for every age and level of science knowledge.
What’s more, the public response has been overwhelmingly positive, according to staff. In fact, the exhibit was packed on the weekday afternoon it was visited.
The exhibit is visually appealing, using tasteful tones of brown and cream, and delightful sepia-tone botanical and species prints as you enter. These give way to color, with family portraits, videos and multi-media displays. There are recreations of the landscapes found of Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle and a replica of his study. The exhibit strikes a balance in covering Darwin’s life and his work, setting his landmark theories into the context of his time. It includes information on Darwin’s personal life and his interesting family of wealthy innovators, doctors and manufacturers who were leading abolitionists, fighting against slavery. The concepts of evolution and natural selection are explained in a clear accessible manner without dumbing down the science, meaning the exhibit will appeal to both adults and children. Videos include a longer one discussing Darwin’s place in history, with seating provided. Another is a time-lapse comparison of the development of the fetuses of a zebra fish, chicken and pig. Several videos feature prominent scientists, such as Dr. Francis Collins, leader of the Human Genome project, speaking on Darwin’s work and scientific theory and methods.
It also includes something on the current public debate on evolution. As the display makes clear, basically there is no scientific debate over evolution. That debate took place over a century ago and the current debate is a social/political one. Even where scientists chose to believe in creationism over evolution, their reasons for doing so are religious, not scientific.
Dr. Collins, also a deeply religious man, discusses the public debate on evolution and explains why there is also no inherent anti-religion side to evolution. In fact, most religions have no problem with evolution and many biologists, like Collins, are people of faith. The Catholic Church even has its own astronomy observatory (http://vaticanobservatory.org/) and official science officer, a physicist and priest, who has been outspoken on science education and against efforts to paint evolution as anti-religion. Religions that include a belief in a literal interpretation of the Bible, which says the Earth is only 6,000 years old, do have a disagreement with biologists, and presumably astrophysicists and geologists as well.
dfg DghjClearly, “Darwin: A Reluctant Revolutionary” is the best, and best-looking, exhibit the Science Center has ever hosted. The free exhibit is open during the center’s regular hours. It is set to run through August 1 but it is so delightful, “Darwin: A Reluctant Revolutionary” deserves to become a permanent display.
Andrew Seal is Staff writer for The Current.
