Darwin’s Society and Science

What happened when Darwin died? How did his country react to his death? The physical body of the intellectually immortal scientist was laid to rest, on April 26, 1882, in Westminster Abbey. This royal church in the center of London was, and still is – it was inscribed as a cultural World Heritage Site in 1987 –, an emblematic symbol of English power, where numerous coronations and royal weddings and funerals have occurred. This point is revealing, as are various other interesting aspects mentioned in the account provided in Desmond and Moore’s 1994 Darwin book about what happened since Darwin’s last breath until his body was buried.