蜜芽传媒

Charles Darwin was a true Victorian explorer and one of the biggest names in science.

His great-great-granddaughter is Ruth Padel.

The writer and poet is on a deeply personal journey to investigate the qualities of her ancestor and the man behind the scientist.

Ruth examines the losses which Darwin experienced and investigates how he coped and in what ways they shaped his view of the world.

There were the deaths of three of his children, one of which affected him deeply and caused him to lose much of his religious belief.

In addition, he had to cope with the death of his mother when he was a young boy - what effect did this have on him?

Then, there was his deteriorating health and also the threat to his research underpinning the "Origin of Species"- an event which however, he managed to circumvent just in time.

Among Ruth's interviewees are:

* Darwin's biographer, Janet Browne
* Writer and fellow Darwin descendant, Randal Keynes
* Former Bishop of Oxford, Richard Harries

Producer: Emma Kingsley

First broadcast on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4 in February 2009.

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