In the historic Down House, the house where Charles Darwin lived for 40 years in Kent, England, there was a space that was key to developing the theory of evolution that would bring the English naturalist worldwide fame. And it's not the table where he wrote The Origin of Speciesbut rather his garden. There, Darwin spent hours conducting small experiments with plants, such as the so-called Darwin's orchid or Christmas orchid, from Madagascar. It is a very particular species, with an extraordinarily long nectary, over 20 centimeters. The scientist predicted the existence of an insect capable of reaching the hidden nectar. The butterfly would be discovered decades later, confirming an intuition based solely on botanical observation.

When Charles Darwin was to embark on the Beagle To travel around the world, one of her sisters told her to take a copy of PersuasionBut he hesitated because, he said, he knew the novel by heart. Darwin was passionate about Jane Austen's works and was fortunate enough to share that enthusiasm with Robert FitzRoy, the ship's captain. Perhaps that's why the naturalist wasn't so pleased to see the writer's image replace his own on the ten-pound note in 2017. In fact, it gave way to one of his favorite authors.