The reaction to Darwin's Origin of Species varied in many countries according to the roles played by national scientific institutions and traditions and the attitudes of religious and political groups. The contributors to this volume, including M. J. S. Hodge, David Hull, and Roberto Moreno, gathered in 1972 at an international conference on the comparative reception of Darwinism. Their essays look at early pro- and anti-Darwinism arguments, and three additional comparative essays and appendices add a larger perspective. For this paperback (...) edition, Thomas F. Glick has added a new preface commenting on recent research. (shrink)

In April 1933, Albert Einstein was offered an ‘Extraordinary’ Chair of Physics at the University of Madrid. Einstein first accepted, then sought to withdraw without causing damage to the anti-Fascist Republican government. However, this proved an opportunity for the Spanish press to harness Einstein’s notoriety to their own programmes. This article discusses the genesis and resolution of this episode, which says much about Einstein and science and politics in modern Spain.

During the mid 1920s, the Spanish Government, prompted by the Rockefeller Foundation, began for the first time to support fundamental research in physics. The negotiations leading to this outcome are instructive, in reflecting key differences between the Foundation’s vision and the practices of scientists accustomed to a ‘culture of scarcity’. This paper shows how the Foundation and the Dictator of Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera, tested the limits of ‘civil discourse’, and reached a resolution.