more searches
7 wordies list

darwin

(n): English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882)
( more... )
Leave a comment, citation, or private note
7 months ago sionnach said:

a logarithmic unit measuring the rate of evolution in characteristics of organisms. If the measurement of a characteristic (such as length, for example) changes from a to b in y million years, then the rate of evolution is (ln b - ln a)/y darwins. (Technically, since the difference in natural logarithms is dimensionless, the darwin is a specialized name for the inverse megayear Ma-1).

8 months ago bilby said:

Also a city (and I use the term ... loosely) in Australia named after Monkeys' Uncle himself.

8 months ago adoarns said:

Also denotes a logarithmic unit of evolution: any quantifiable attribute of an organism, esp. size of physical structures, changing by a factor of e (≈ 2.7182818…) per million years, is evolving at the rate of 1 darwin.

Register or login to leave a comment.
first listed by:
Samme (1178 words)
appears in these lists: