By Whitney Clark
Not only was Charles Darwin born 200 years ago this week, but two other important men were also born around the same time making a great impact on people for centuries to follow.
Thursday night, Professor Riley Nelson of the biology department gave a lecture to a full house on the importance of three great men in history: Charles Darwin, Abraham Lincoln and Joseph Smith, Jr., two of which, Darwin and Lincoln, were born 200 years ago today.
“We are making comparisons on how these people looked at the world,” Nelson said, “and how the world affected them.”
Nelson structured his lecture into three different topics. First, the ways in which we as people learn.
We can learn by either faith, force, consensus, art or science, Nelson said.
“Good things can happen when there is a combination of ways of learning,” he said.
The second topic discussed was the idea that the time period, The Enlightenment, in which they lived helped all three of these men create their influences on society.
“It was a time when discovery tools were coming better into common knowledge,” Nelson said. He added that because of the time period, these three men were more able to look at many different types of learning.
Nelson said though Smith focused mostly on faith, Lincoln on consensus, and Darwin on science, all three of the men used several types of learning to come to their conclusions.
“I appreciated that he talked about the fact that there are many different ways of learning to gain truth,” said Kimberlee Sirstins, a senior from Salt Lake studying communications disorders. “I think it is something that is very overlooked.”
The final topic discussed by Nelson was the similarities and differences among the three.
“Each one had a turning point in their life,” Nelson said.
Smith”s turning point came when he questioned the different churches around him. Lincoln”s came when he left the ax on his farm behind and started a career in law. Finally, Darwin”s turning point began when he traveled the world on the HMS Beagle.
Nelson said all three men took the time to learn about their surroundings and the world, as well as had great influences in their lives to help them in their quest for knowledge.
All three men were greatly influenced by their wives and fathers, as well as their outlook on religion.
“The lecture was great,” said Michael Hebdon, a freshman from Royal City, Wash. “[Nelson] just inspires me the way he puts these things in his life.”
Nelson said that these three men have made it possible for works of many others to accomplish great things.
“We have learned that through their actions, they have not died in vain,” he said.
