Charles Darwin



(© the Governor and Company of the Bank of England 2000, reproduced by permisson)

In Britain the importance of Darwin and his theory of evolution by natural selection is recognized at the highest levels of politics and government. Above, you should be able to see a link to the Bank of England's image of the E-series £10 note, dated 2000.

If Darwin had been American, would we would have seen his portrait on a dollar denomination bill next to the inscription "In God We Trust"?

I personally knew what journalists would call "a source close to the Governer of the Bank of England" about the Darwin £10 note, and he told me that the Bank had been a little worried about possible negative public reaction to the release of the note. However, the Bank was relieved when the potentially controversial banknote was received with no negative publicity whatsoever.

" Darwin's book was misnamed, because it is ... not a treatise on the origin of species ". True or false? Judge for yourself; read what Darwin actually said on species and speciation.

Unfortunately, today "The Darwin £10 is almost extinct." Actually (6 Feb 2019), the Darwin £10 note is now completely extinct since 1 Mar 2018. I have enormous respect for Jane Austen, but I'm an evolutionary biologist; you might want to hoard your Darwin notes, because they are no longer printed, having been replaced with hi-tech Jane Austen notes with transparent windows. The Darwin £10 note was legal tender till 23:59 on 1 Mar 2018. After that you have to hope you can exchange them with a bank.

Read Darwin online: Complete Works of Darwin Online.

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