This course, held in Santander within the framework of the summer meetings of the Menéndez Pelayo International University, proposed an approach to the current situation of the Theory of Evolution, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the birth of the English naturalist.

This course, held in Santander within the framework of the summer meetings of the Menéndez Pelayo International University, proposed an approach to the current situation of the Theory of Evolution, on the occasion of the bicentenary of the birth of the English naturalist.

With his concept of the development of all forms of life through the slow process of natural selection, Charles Darwin (1809-1882) laid the foundations of the modern Theory of the Evolution of species. A methodical naturalist, Darwin managed, after patient years of work and long voyages of exploration, to elaborate one of the core theories of modern biodiversity. The course emphasized the geological facet of the scientist and his contribution to the constitution of geology as a science, by the hand of his referent Charles Lyell.

As a tribute, and to contribute to the dissemination of the work of these pioneers of science, prominent researchers from the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGMA), the Illustrious Official College of Geologists, the Spanish Society for the History of Science and Technology (SEHCYT) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), as well as professors from the University of Alcalá de Henares, the Complutense University of Madrid, the University of Cordoba, the UNED, the National Autonomous University of Mexico and the Academy of Sciences of Cubaparticipated in this meeting, which took placeat the Cantabrian Maritime Museum, in Santander.