These manuscripts record Charles Darwin's work as a practicing scientist. Whether you are a student or a researcher, our goal is to offer you digital access to the primary evidence for the birth and maturation of Darwin's attempts to explore and explain the natural world.

Travel to the Galápagos Islands and follow in Charles Darwin’s footsteps with this interactive investigation. You’ll have the chance to collect clues as you investigate the islands’ species. A three-chapter documentary-style introduction, that provides key facts about Darwin’s historic trip and introduces students to paleontologist Niles Eldredge, is followed by online activities for students divided into three levels—grades 3 and up, grades 5 and up, and grades 7 and up. 

Did you know that for 21 years Darwin kept his theory secret? Learn more about this brilliant observer of nature and how he transformed our understanding of the living world. Best known for his revolutionary theory of evolution by natural selection, Darwin and his extraordinary ideas are still considered revolutionary more than 150 years after his publication of On the Origin of Species (1859). Get a unique glimpse into Darwin’s intellectual and personal world and the experiences that first led him to formulate his groundbreaking theory.

Meet Dr. Niles Eldredge, curator of Darwin. Eldredge has been a paleontologist on the curatorial staff of the American Museum of Natural History since 1969. His specialty is the evolution of trilobites--a group of extinct arthropods that lived between 535 and 245 million years ago. Eldredge's main professional passion is evolution. Throughout his career, he has used repeated patterns in the history of life to refine ideas on how the evolutionary process actually works. The theory of "punctuated equilibria," developed with Stephen Jay Gould in 1972, was an early milestone. Eldredge went on to develop a hierarchical vision of evolutionary and ecological systems, and in his book The Pattern of Evolution (1999) he has developed a comprehensive theory (the "sloshing bucket") that specifies in detail how environmental change governs the evolutionary process.

This Educator's Guide connects the Darwin exhibition to the classroom—before, during, and after your visit—and correlates the exhibition content to National and State Standards. It explores contemporary evolutionary biology, its applications in medicine and conservation, and how Darwin’s theory laid the foundation for modern biology. 

To err is human, even if you’re a scientist. In this podcast, astrophysicist Mario Livio discusses the interesting scientific mistakes made by famous scientists, the subject of his new book “Brilliant Blunders.” Livio illuminates the errors made by Charles Darwin, Linus Pauling, and Albert Einstein, among others, and argues that these errors are not only inevitable, they are also an essential part of progress in science. This “Frontiers” lecture took place at the Museum on June 10, 2013.

Charles Darwin called them the “strangest animals ever discovered” when he found these mammals’ fossilized remains nearly 200 years ago. Now, new research led by the Museum, the Natural History Museum in London, and the University of York shows that South America’s so-called “native ungulates”—the last of which disappeared only 10,000 years ago—are related to mammals like horses rather than elephants and other species with ancient evolutionary ties to Africa.

In the late 1960s, Curator Emeritus Niles Eldredge was a graduate student with a passion for trilobite eyes. He had been taught to expect slow and steady change between the specimens of these Devonian arthropods he collected for his dissertation. Only his trilobites were doing one of two things: staying the same, or evolving in leaps.

Teaching and talking about evolution can be challenging. Look here for support of all kinds from national organizations, tailored to the needs of educators and students.

Did you know that Darwin was prone to sea sickness? Or that he found a bird specimen he was seeking ... on his dinner plate? Examine the big insights and amusing details of Darwin's historic voyage on the HMS Beagle. 

From Darwin’s finches to the Dodo, island birds have inspired groundbreaking scientific theories. The genomic revolution and increased access to islands are now enabling a new age of island exploration by researchers.

In this podcast from the April 2012 SciCafe, Chris Filardi, director of Pacific Programs for the Museum’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation, highlights the Museum’s ongoing island research and new paradigms in island biology.

Of the many creatures on the Galápagos Islands, one of the most impressive is the huge Galápagos tortoise. Once so plentiful that ships loaded up on as many as 700 live animals, one tortoise could provide 200 pounds of meat.

The Galápagos Giant Tortoise, on display in the Hall of Reptiles and Amphibians, famously inspired Darwin's thinking on geographic variation.