The highlight of this biography-cum-display has to be part five, which outlines the not-yet-famous Mr. Darwin’s extended voyage (1831–1836) aboard the HMS Beagle down the coast of South America. Travelling to the Galapagos Islands and beyond, Darwin gathered some of the evidence he would need to write his incendiary ode to evolution, On the Origin of Species, published in 1859. The exhibit includes his invitation to serve aboard the Beagle, his pistol, his bible, and many of the specimens he collected, including beetles, butterflies, moths, bugs and fossils. Other sections of the exhibit explain Darwin’s theories and also neatly rebut his father’s snarky assessment of his son’s character and career: “You care for nothing but shooting, dogs and rat catching,” Darwin the elder told his child during the latter’s time at boarding school, “and you will be a disgrace to yourself and all your family.”—Brent Ledger