Richard Milner, the singing Darwinian scholar, has been selected to join the elite company of the extraordinary Beagle Project, which has rebuilt the sailing ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world on his iconic voyage of 1831-36. This three-masted vessel will host top scholars, scientists, and historians, as well as members of the Darwin family, as it circumnavigates the globe next year, following in Darwin’s wake.
Scientists on board will take new measurements in biology, geology, and oceanography to compare the climate and wildlife observations made by Darwin with conditions today. The historical re-creation is being produced by VPRO Television, the national Public Broadcasting Service in The Netherlands. During the voyage, they will film more than 30 television episodes for worldwide broadcast as a series.
Milner’s acclaimed new book Darwin’s Universe: Evolution from A to Z has just been published by the University of California Press. Michael Shermer has called it “The single best volume ever published that covers all matters Darwinian from A to ZSA magnificent product of scholarship that is also a work of art.”
Richard will be on board the Beagle on the Rio de Janeiro to Montevideo leg of the voyage. He will be interviewed on camera as a Darwin historian, and will also perform several songs from his one-man musical “Charles Darwin: Live & In Concert” aboard ship.
“I’m really looking forward to the experience,” he says, “and I’m so pleased that the Beagle project will feature my Darwin songs as well as my scholarly and historical work. This is the coming together of a dream that has happily obsessed me for more than twenty-five years.”
