Read: Irishman's Diary, by Frank McNally, Irish Times 1 July 2008

The idea that shook the world - evolution by natural selection - is 150 years old. On the 1st July 1858 joint papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace proposing the mechanism by which evolution works was read to the Linnean Society in London.

This event did not attract a great deal of attention but the following year 1859 saw the publication of Darwin's The Origin of Species by Natural Selection which introduced the idea to the public. The result was a storm of debate and controversy which still rages today. Despite 150 years of evidence supporting the theory and effectively universal acceptance by biologists a large percentage of the public remain sceptical or confused about evolution.

Charles Darwin was born in 1809 and there will be events all over the world marking the 200th birthday of one of the world's greatest scientists and the 150th birthday of the idea that changed our world.

Darwin celebrations will be coordinated in Ireland by iSCAN - the Irish Science Centres Awareness Network in partnership with Darwin200 in the UK which is coordinated by the London Natural History Museum (links below). Science Centres and Awareness Groups, Museums, Universities and Institutes of Technology and other organisations will be running events for Darwin 200.

A dedicated website for Ireland - www.Darwin200.ie - will be launched soon.

Do you want to get involved, run an event or learn more? Contact Eoin Gill at: egill@wit.ie

Read about the first public presentation of Natural Selection on 1st July 1858.