I’m still a day behind, but that’s OK because as far as I can tell no one of any interest was born today. For February 8th, first of all we have Henry Walter Bates, an English naturalist who lived about the same time as Darwin and spent eleven years studying butterflies and other insects. Unfortunately, he came up with the idea of natural selction at about the same time Darwin did, but Darwin got all the credit–or blame as the case may be. Bates sounds like a nice guy, spent most of his life studying beetles and butterflies and liverworts. One article said he was delighted to support Darwin’s theories and not at all concerned with getting any credit for Darwinism for himself. I wouldn’t want any credit for it either.

Jules Verne was born on February 8, 1828. I think he wrote better science fiction than Darwin did. He once said: “I have always made a point in my romances of basing my so-called inventions upon a groundwork of actual fact, and of using in their construction methods and materials which are not entirely without the pale of contemporary engineering skill and knowledge.”
At least, he told a better story. If you really like science fiction, you should try the sci-fi website. I used to read some science fiction, but I’m really more of a fantasy gal.