Erasmus Darwin

Uncommon card · No. 175976

Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 1731 – 18 April 1802) was an English polymath active as a physician, physiologist, botanist, biologist, physicist, metaphysician, inventor and poet who is commonly associated with the Midlands Enlightenment in addition to British abolitionism. His poems included much natural history, including a statement of evolution and the relatedness of all forms of life. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family, which includes his grandsons Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. Darwin was a founding member of the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a discussion group of pioneering industrialists and natural philosophers. He turned down an invitation from George III to become Physician to the King.

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