The Naturalist: 1839-1859

Charles Darwin never came to Denmark himself, but had close connections to Danish scientists. Darwin was a highly respected naturalist in Danish scientific circles even before the English publication of On the Origin of Species on November 24^th 1859. Of the people he corresponded with were geology professor Johan Georg Forchhammer and zoology professor Japetus Steenstrup. For his major works on cirripedia he even borrowed examples of barnacles from the collection at the Museum of Zoology. Most of his books could be found in their original first editions at the Royal Library and at the library at The University of Copenhagen. The collections contained several editions of the different books from Darwin’s voyage with the HMS Beagle; from the original 1839 edition to the first German translation from 1844 as well as several copies of his work on coral reefs. Among Danish naturalists, ?Darwin had gained a reputation as a hardworking and very meticulous English colleague, whose scientific results were taken very seriously. To the Danish public, he was still relatively unknown, but that was about to change.

The editors