[Note: See update at bottom of post]
Over at Stranger Fruit, John Lynch has linked to a charming photo of someone who is allegedly Darwin, further allegedly signed by Darwin. The photo accompanied an Ed Larson article published in the November/December 2005 issue of Historically Speaking: The Bulletin of the Historical Society, produced at Boston University. Furthermore, it is found in the online archives of the Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, in the Julia Margaret Cameron collection.
However, many of us Darwin fans think that this photo is not Chuck, and that someone, somewhere, has Officially Screwed Up. Mind you, it's not quite as bad as 2004, when Barnes and Noble was selling the Autobiography of Charles Darwin with a 
Background information
Before you vote, consider the following facts:
1. I was recently in the UK for the University of Birmingham Darwin Day, and got to visit Down House, Darwin's home in Downe (yes, the village has the "e", but not the house) south of London.
2. In the aforementioned Down House, there are many portraits of Darwin. One, taken by Julia Margaret Cameron, has a handwritten note below it, saying, "I like this Photograph very much better than any other which has been taken of me. Ch. Darwin"
3. The alleged Darwin photo at Yale has the same handwritten note; however, the text description at Yale, "I like this Photograph much better than any other which has been taken of me", says only "much better" rather than the accurate quote, "very much better."
4. The handwritten note at Down House was not attached to the above frizzy-haired bearded guy, rather, it was attached to this rather more dignified photo of Darwin, online at The American Museum of Photography, which clearly is the one and only Charles Darwin. This photo was also taken by Julia Margaret Cameron and is described as having the (accurate) handwritten Darwin note below it.
Time to Vote: Who is this Bearded Man? Pick all that apply: (a) It's Charles Darwin. He's got a beard and everything.
(b) Alfred Russel Wallace, who always gets confused with Darwin anyway.
(c.) Some footnote in history with a weird name also photographed by Julia Margaret Cameron,
(d) The Bearded Man used in the famous Annals of Improbable Research study, "Feline Reactions to Bearded Men," which was followed by many follow-up studies and a Special Bearded Men Issue of AIR.
(e) The irascible philosopher of biology Michael Ruse
(ref)
(f) The dogged philosopher of mind Daniel Dennett
(ref)
(ref)
(g) The God of Western theism
(ref)
(h) The mysteriously unnamed Intelligent Designer
(ref)
(i) Either Michael Ruse or Daniel Dennett, after arguing with the other about Darwin, God, and The Intelligent Designer. (j) I don't know who it is, but it's pretty weird that a note in Darwin's handwriting in one famous Darwin photo would somehow get spliced onto a photo of someone totally different in the Yale University archives, unless maybe Julia Margaret Cameron did it herself as a joke. Please make your votes in the comments. Update 1: Additional candidates have been proposed: Santa Claus, Noah, the guy who plays Moses in some movie, "Sam Jaffe playing God, or God playing Sam Jaffe", Odin (the real God of Western theism), Gandalf, Dumbledore, someone sharing a common ancestor with Darwin, a Martian, and PZ Myers in 2040. Obviously I did not exhaust the Bearded Man Pool. Update 2: John Lynch has received a reply from Kevin Repp, Curator of Modern European Books and Manuscripts at the Beinecke Library at Yale.
On the Darwin Photo My post on the Darwin photo was picked up by Nick at the Panda's Thumb. Yesterday, I contacted Kevin Repp, Curator of Modern European Books and Manuscripts at the Beinecke and I received this reply today:Update 3: I just received a reply from Ed Larson; he says, "Yes, you are right, I had nothing to do with the picking the picture and never saw it until I received the publication. ... If you make another entry in the blog, please include the fact that I knew nothing of the photo until it was published. Once I saw it, I knew it was not Darwin." So in case anyone was wondering, Ed Larson does know what Darwin looked like.Many thanks for your query. As it turns out, the photo in question is indeed of Mr. Princep. How it came to be cataloged as one of Darwin is a mystery. The inscription business makes it all the more curious. In any case, I have alerted our digital library cataloging staff, and the record will be corrected promptly. Thanks again for pointing this out to us.Mystery solved ... well sort of. We still don't know about the inscription. Princep was a British civil servant in India and was married to the photographer's sister. See here (which reproduces an 1865 photo that is clearly from the same sitting). Posted on February 23, 2006 02:16 PM
46 Comments
Tiax · 23 February 2006
The taker of this photo is cited as "Julia Margaret Cameron." She kept extensive records of her photography with the Copyright Office. Of special note is the entry:
143 H. T. Prinsep 3/4 head draped in Cloak, thumb & portion of hand shewing 3/19 May 1865
Clearly that is this photograph.
Popper's Ghost · 23 February 2006
Thanks for Tom the Dancing Bug!
Registered User · 23 February 2006
Well, there's no way to know FOR SURE who the guy in the photo is or who took it.
So we have to take the possibility of mysterious intervening aliens seriously.
Unless some dogmatic atheist tells us we aren't allowed to do that.
coturnix · 23 February 2006
In the original thread I suggested Ruse, but now I am not so sure any more. I'll have to sleep on it, then think some deeeep thoughts before deciding.
Roscoe · 23 February 2006
I`m split 50-50. It`s either Sam Jaffe playing God, or God playing Sam Jaffe.
Dale Stanbrough · 23 February 2006
"Chuck"? "CHUCK"?
Please, he wasn't an American, so his name was "Charles", and always was "Charles".
Stephen Elliott · 23 February 2006
Popper's Ghost · 23 February 2006
Rilke's Granddaughter · 23 February 2006
Oh, come on now - it's Chuck. Just look at that nose and eyebrows. And he's got the right kind of hair in the right kind of place. It's just that he's clearly come in from playing cricket and he's a bit... mussed.
mark · 23 February 2006
Why, it's the geezer I saw on the street corner, selling bits of string and mumbling something about how he used to be called "the Isaac Newton of Information Theory" when he was young. I gave him a quarter and moved away quickly.
PZ Myers · 23 February 2006
I'm looking at the captions, and both say "very much better".
I'd like to add a few more options to your list. Since Behe has claimed the designer could be an alien or a time traveler, we should consider the possibility the photo is of k) a Martian, or l) (and I like this one best) a photo of PZ Myers from 2040, placed there by a time-traveling prankster or a chronosynclastic glitch in the Intarwubs. I'm planning on getting increasingly grizzled and hirsute, so there may be some resemblance in 30 years.
I'm probably still going to vote for (c), though.
Thomas R. Holtz, Jr. · 23 February 2006
The figure in the photo in question seems to lack Darwin's distinctively shelf-like brow-ridge. So I'm guessing it isn't him.
Paul Nelson · 23 February 2006
I don't know -- I don't think it's Darwin [the nose is wrong] -- but I have to say that this is the funniest post at Panda's Thumb EVER.
Darwin, Wallace, Ruse, Dennett, God, the Intelligent Designer. Now there's a cocktail party.
Jim Wynne · 23 February 2006
SteveF · 23 February 2006
I think it is fairly obvious from his comment why Thomas is a palaeontologist!
Anyway, I think its is (reasonably clearly) 'C.'
eTourist · 23 February 2006
It's Theodore Roberts, the guy who plays Moses in the silent version of the Ten Commandments. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0014532/
PaulC · 23 February 2006
This is further evidence for a conclusion I reached long ago about growing a beard. Whenever I started to let my beard grow, my objective--if there was any--was to stand out in a crowd, assert my individuality, look "distinguished", or whatever. But in fact, if you have a beard, that's what people remember, and you get lumped into a category "guys with beards" (subcategories: full beards, goatees, etc.) In a counterintuitive way, trying to look as generic as possible may make it more likely for people to remember what you actually look like. (This would work the opposite way if having a beard was the norm.) These days if I have facial hair, it consists of 3-day stubble--out of laziness and not nostalgia for Miami Vice.
JONBOY · 23 February 2006
Look very carefully at the top left side of the hair line,and you will see an image of the Virgin Mary.
Keith Douglas · 23 February 2006
Can the photo be dated somehow?
Jim Wynne · 23 February 2006
steve s · 23 February 2006
wamba · 23 February 2006
wamba · 23 February 2006
k.e. · 23 February 2006
hey de ' regigisterated User
If you are not sure (Well, there's no way FOR SURE ), then I'm pretty damn sure some alien WHO THINKS he just MIGHT BE an athirstiest MARTIAN could JUST BE fooled into thinking THAT PHOTO of AN ATHEIST MARTIAN was in fact .......JP3 or JESUS JFK CHRIST HIMSELF.
Heck I'm willing to go for or even HOWARD the Antichrist AHMANSON jr (look that up dear reader, but make sure you take your meds first) or HERBERT P. HUGHS who really KNOWS?S
Karl · 23 February 2006
I think it's Moses.
Goddidit.
k.e. · 23 February 2006
OK dinner AND and a movie that's funny !
But what about its' DNA ?????????
I thought that only GODS............... PHOTO"S ............and old McDonald's wrappers didn't HAVE DNA .......yeah yeah .......except when touched by living things sheesh.
Carol Heddle FL BLAST etc etc oh and DISCORDANT INDECENT ....whackers
k.e. · 23 February 2006
Obviously VERY deep thinkers the pair of them;
The the guy with more "up top" is thinking "why isn't dry cleaning available in my neighborhood...so I can have the soup stains removed from my favorite tie before the next meeting at the Royal Society dinner"
and ....er Darwin thinking thinking "why is it going to take another 165 years before the Internet takes off"
Faidon · 23 February 2006
k.e. · 23 February 2006
Nice one Faidon, what about a nice Whitman quote to make us all feel better ?
normdoering · 23 February 2006
The first thing that came to my mind was Gandalf the wizard, played by Ian McKellen, in "Lord of the Rings."
I don't think that's right, but something is saying to me: that's an actor in costume.
Don · 23 February 2006
I am willing to bet that this guy and Darwin share a common ancestor.
Don · 23 February 2006
BWE · 23 February 2006
BWE · 23 February 2006
Sean · 23 February 2006
You guys are all wrong! It is clearly Noah!
Faidon · 23 February 2006
BWE · 23 February 2006
Sorry, antichrist
JONBOY · 23 February 2006
I happened upon this little known fact about Darwin that I was not familiar with,I'm sure the more learned amongst you are, but never the less it's quite interesting.
One additional and little known synthesis provided by Darwin concerns the theory of plate tectonics. While in South America, Darwin had a chance to explore the Andes and hike in the mountains. His observations of sea shells at some elevation in the Andes intrigued him and he postulated vast tectonic movements that would remain in obscurity for at least a century.The theory of plate tectonic of which Darwin had the first inklings and the theory of atoll formation, which stands basically in the same form today as that which Darwin proposed, illustrates Darwin's ability to take bits and pieces of information and put them together in some sort of rational explanation.
Albion · 23 February 2006
Professor Dumbledore.
Nick (Matzke) · 23 February 2006
Nick (Matzke) · 23 February 2006
'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 23 February 2006
Hey Paul, I have a few questions for you here:
http://www.geocities.com/lflank/nelson.html
Coragyps · 23 February 2006
H. Thoby as a given name? Dayum, I'm glad my kids are raised! I'd be tempted to suggest that to the wife if she was still in the mood to have another. It would have at least got her out of the mood...
Tice with a J · 23 February 2006
Gotta be Prinsep. The hair and the clothing are the same in both pics.
Bob · 24 February 2006
It's clearly that famous, liberal scientist, and contemporary Moses, named Charlton Heston
Mike Flacklestein · 14 June 2006
I live at 56452 Commonwealth in Seattle. Been up here before?