Darwin 2009 commemorations
Darwin Day has become an annual celebration, and the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species are being celebrated by events and publications around the world.
The “Darwin” exhibition, after opening at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City in 2006, was shown at the Museum of Science, Boston, the Field Museum in Chicago, the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto,then from 14 November 2008 to 19 April 2009 in the Natural History Museum, London, as part of the Darwin200 programme of events across the United Kingdom.
The University of Cambridge features a festival in July 2009.
His birthplace is celebrating with "Darwin's Shrewsbury 2009 Festival" events during the year.
In the United Kingdom a special commemorative issue of the two pound coin shows a portrait of Darwin facing an ape surrounded by the inscription 1809 DARWIN 2009, with the edge inscription ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES 1859. Collector versions of the coin will be released at a premium, and during the year the coins will be available from banks and post offices at face value.
In September 2008, the Church of England issued an article saying that the 200th anniversary of his birth
was a fitting time to apologise to Darwin
"for misunderstanding you and,
by getting our first reaction wrong,
encouraging others to misunderstand you still".