In this course, you will learn about the empirical and historical foundations of evolutionary theory which started long before Charles Darwin, and led to the publication in 1859 of his seminal Origin of Species. Chapter after chapter, you will also discover and discuss together how this book, which Darwin wrote in only a few weeks, is in fact a 500 pages-long abstract summarizing tens of thousands of pages of the observations he made around the world for 25 years or so. In addition, you will read for each chapter a selection of recent scientific publications and hopefully, better appreciate how exhaustive and visionary Darwin's knowledge and synthesis of the evolutionary processes and mechanims were, and why this book, which literaly shook the religious foundations and exacerbated passion all around the world, is still relevant today. close