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Hi, I’m Richard Milner—a historian of science who loves to share my lifelong research (and original discoveries) about Darwin’s life and thought with you. Trained as an anthropologist, specializing in primate behavior and human evolution, I worked for years as Senior Editor at Natural History magazine at the American Museum of Natural History. There I edited Stephen Jay Gould’s famous column, “This View of Life”—the basis of his popular books—an odd twist of fate, because Gould and I had been childhood friends who were interested in evolution and Darwin even as 12-year-olds. Since then, I’ve written
But there’s also a twist to my Darwinian research and scholarhip. Gould used to introduce me to audiences by saying, “Richard doesn’t just search the history of science for biographical and intellectual insights—he’s the only Darwin historian who’s always looking for song cues.” That’s because, back in the 1960s, when I was a graduate student at the University of California (UCLA and Berkeley), I began writing songs about Darwin and evolution and performed monologues with a jazz bassist at San Francisco coffee houses. I’m still writing songs about Darwin and evolution, and for the past decade have performed my one-man musical Charles Darwin: Live & In Concert all over the world, including such venues as the Edinburgh Science Festival, London Natural History Museum, Dresden Museum, American Museum of Natural History, Canberra Skeptics Society (Australia) and most recently—the fulfillment of a lifelong dream—on a cruise ship in the Galapagos Islands. (After the performance, the audience gathered on deck, where they were treated to a unique spectacle—sea lions leaping out of the water to catch flying fish in mid-air!)
Eight of my Darwin songs, with music by Jacques Semmelman, were performed last spring by a 100-voice choir in Cambridge, Massachusetts, known as the North Cambridge Family Opera Company. You can click on the video clip above to view New York Times coverage of my show on Darwin Day last year.
Theater critic Rex Reed wrote that “Milner’s songs are clever and witty; he could tackle musically any subject.” Tony Randall called them “absolutely wonderful,” and famed Broadway lyricist Marshall (Once Upon a Mattress) Barer wrote: “Milner’s lines are incredible. Written with seemingly effortless expertise, Richard Milner’s lyrics leave us unaware (until we’ve finished laughing) that we have made a quantum leap in the reconciliation of art and science. The songs are fresh yet inevitable, modest and audacious, stylishly eclectic, touching and hilarious.” Master lyricist Sheldon (Fiddler on the Roof) Harnick said in the Wall Street Journal, “His lyrics are expert especially because they’re so scientifically rich.” Click image on right to see some of the lyrics.
In his introduction to Darwin’s Universe, Ian Tattersall, Curator in the Division of Anthropology at the American Museum of Natural History writes: “This book is crammed with the results of a lifetime of inquiry, and will become an indispensable reference for anyone interested in evolutionary thought and the changing milieus through which it has developed. But while as a result you will probably pick it up for information and insight, I guarantee you’ll read it for fun.” Darwin’s Universe is not only about Darwin’s Life and thought (and those of his friends and fellow evolutionists) but is the story of how evolution leaped out of science to influence drama, literature, exploration, cinema, law, and popular culture. As part of Darwin’s Bicentennial, I also co-edited the 200th Anniversary Special Darwin-Wallace Issue of the Linnean Society of London. You can read my
Part of the Linnean story involves my discovery of an amazing court trial in 1876—the first time a psychic had ever been charged by a scientist with concocting fraudulent “scientific experiments.” I found, to my astonishment, that the two greatest naturalists of the nineteenth century took opposing sides when the supernatural went on trial. Alfred Russel Wallace, co-discoverer of the theory of natural selection was the star witness for the defense, while Charles Darwin secretly contributed funds to the prosecution. (See “Charles Darwin & Associates, Ghostbusters” [PDF].) You can hear me speak about “Darwin as Ghostbuster, Muse, and Magistrate” with Steve Mirsky on Scientific American’s current podcast. One last exciting project I need to mention: Charles R. Knight: The Father of Paleoart will be published next year by Harry Abrams. This definitive volume of artworks by the groundbreaking “artist who saw through time,” will be a first-rate collection of Knight’s dinosaurs, mammoths, early humans, and living animals. His magnificent murals rank among the greatest treasures of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Field Museum in Chicago, (see Field Museum Chas. Knight Web site) and other institutions. See also the World of Charles R. Knight. The book also contains a new biography of Knight, which I constructed after months of examining archival boxes full of his letters and papers, most of which have never before been researched. His life turned out to be more interesting and compelling than I ever imagined, and his dramatic life story is told in this book for the first time. It is a remarkable naturalist-artist’s life, full of this love of animals, fascination with the remote past, the joy of creation, and the despair of gradually losing his sight. Also, Knight fans have sent us photos of his wonderful artworks from far and near that have never before been published.
I was deeply delighted that Rhoda Knight Kalt chose me to assemble this treasury of her grandfather’s artistic legacy, which will include his wonderful wildlife renderings as well as the classic prehistoric scenes. Knight’s surviving private letters and papers, many of which we will publish for the first time, are also fascinating. Steve Gould and I became serious Knight fans when we were still kids, in those days long before Jurassic Park, when Charles R. Knight’s dinosaurs were “THE Dinosaurs.” I was given the monicker “Dino” in the schoolyard, and Steve was dubbed “Fossilface.” The late, lamented Harvard Professor S. J. Gould dedicated one of his last books to me—so this one’s for you, Fossilface! (See my memoir “Farewell, Fossilface” (PDF) from Skeptic magazine.) Thanks for visiting Darwinlive.com. I hope you will like my writings, songs, and performances. It’s my deepest pleasure and my joy to use history, science, and scholarship to create music, theater, and art. Darwin’s lessons went beyond science. He spent a life making his play his work and his work his play. As Darwin sings in my show, while gathering specimens aboard HMS Beagle, “I do what I love and I love what I do.”  
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