Mind the gap: did Darwin avoid publishing his theory for many years?
@article{vanWyhe2007MindTG,
title={Mind the gap: did Darwin avoid publishing his theory for many years?},
author={John van Wyhe},
journal={Notes and Records of the Royal Society},
year={2007},
volume={61},
pages={177 - 205}
}It is widely believed that Charles Darwin avoided publishing his theory of evolution for many years. Many explanations have been proposed to identify Darwin's reasons or motives for doing so. This essay demonstrates that Darwin's delay is a recent historiographical theme for which there is no clear evidence, and indeed is overwhelmingly contradicted by the historical evidence. It is also shown that Darwin's belief in evolution was not a secret before publication. Instead of a man afraid of his…
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