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Article: The house that questioned God; It is 200 years since Charles Darwin was born, 150 since he challenged the biblical account of creation, writes James Clarke.(Dispatches)
- Article from:
- The Sunday Independent (South Africa)
- Article date:
- July 5, 2009
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IT WAS a bizarre birthday party in a way, yet it was touching, too. It was in February this year in Johannesburg. We all sang "Happy birthday, dear Charles," though some referred to him as "Charlie", which I thought was being a bit too familiar.
Then South Africa's most eminent scientist, 84-year-old palaeo-anthropologist Professor Phillip Tobias, blew out the two candles on the birthday cake.
A great many of the 100 party-goers were well-known scientists.
The birthday boy was a great deal older than Tobias.
In fact, each candle represented 100 years of his life, for this was the 200th birthday of the man who broke the church's ...