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November 24th 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, (full title “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life”), that shook the scientific and religious communities.  It is very readable, even for the non-academic specialist, and attracted widespread interest on publication as well as igniting the creation vs. evolution debate that continues to this day.

Based on the evidence Darwin had accumulated on his voyages aboard The Beagle in the 1830’s and his subsequent experiments after his return to England the book was highly controversial upon publication due its contradiction of religious beliefs. Although the scientific theory of evolution has itself evolved since Darwin’s seminal work, natural selection is still the most commonly accepted scientific model of how species evolve.

The Bicentenary Celebrations of the Birth of Charles Darwin

February 12^th 2009 marks 200 years since the birth of perhaps the world’s most influential naturalist. There are a number of events planned to mark this anniversary of Shrewsbury’s most famous son planned by the Shropshire Tourism Board. It is for this reason that Shoothill, the Shrewsbury based specialist software developer, decided to showcase a new Microsoft technology, Deep Zoom, using the entirety of the book that started the whole theory of natural selection.

Rod Plummer, Managing Director of Shoothill, enthuses: “Shropshire, and particularly Shrewsbury, continues to lack the recognition it deserves when it comes to technological innovation. I have, in the course of my career, worked with some real ground-breakers hailing from Shropshire and many go on to work all across the world. It is my intent to put Shrewsbury back on the global map with our suite of bespoke solutions being applied in mainstream commercial operations. How better to herald a new age of technical innovation in Shrewsbury than by celebrating, and paying tribute to, one of the greatest thinkers in human history.”

To find out more about the activities planned to mark these two historic events, go to www.discoverdarwin.co.uk