Biography:

Society Editor and Isis Editor, History of Science Society. He is also the editor of a monograph series titled "Science and Culture in Nineteenth-Century Britain"

He is the former general editor of the four-volume Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists and was also appointed to a number of administrative positions over the years at York University. As a Writer in the field of Victorian science he likes to challenge himself with increasingly complex research projects. Lightman recently received a prestigious $306,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for his latest research venture, the John Tyndall correspondence project.

Abstract:

Darwin and the Popularizers of Evolution

A discussion of how Darwin tried to popularize his theory and how he tried to control how others popularized his theory, and failed. I go through the four different versions of evolution popularized in best selling books up to 1900 and conclude that a vision of evolution very different from Darwin's was the most popular with audiences.