The Traveling Biologist

Perhaps one could argue that Charles Darwin's journey to South America and the Galapagos Islands aboard the HMS Beagle for a daunting period of 5 years was necessary in order for him to invaluably contribute to the field of Biology. As is commonly known, traveling expands one's horizons. As Mark Twain so eloquently put it: Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. (1) Without having traveled, Christopher Columbus would not have 'discovered' North America. Similarly, had Neil Armstrong not traveled to the Moon, the United States would not have the same stature it enjoys in the contemporary world. There are, however, perhaps more compelling reasons which made Darwin's travels imperative to formulate his theories on Evolution. Among them is the fact that it is on these travels that he observed certain patterns in the finches which were indigenous to the Galapagos Islands which aided him in proposing his Theory of Evolution. It should be noted, however, that though there are proponents for Darwin's travels, others argued that since he made similar observations in his native England, his voyage was, in actuality, perhaps frivolous. It can be argued that Darwin traveling for 5 years to far off lands and incurring innumerable expenses was, in actuality not, in the vernacular, 'worth it.' This fact can lead the thinking mind to the field of modern science in which billions of Dollars are spent annually, much of which is unnecessary and actually very extravagant. It is the responsibility of scientists to be responsible with money, not wasteful. Checks and balances are a must as they are in any field or realm of modern day life. To illustrate this point, one need not look further than at the amount of money spent on research in the United States space program. In the year 2004, former President George W. Bush proclaimed that by the year 2020, a base should be established on the moon in order for the exploration of Mars. Furthermore, in the year 2005, NASA announced an extravagant $104 billion plan for an expedition of the Moon similar to NASA's Apollo program (2). To the rational mind, $104 billion is an obscene and an unjustifiable amount of money which should rather be spent for the benefit of society at large. In the United States alone, as many as 3.5 million people experience homelessness in a given year. (3) Surely this money could be better spent to provide food and shelter for these people. To conclude, though one can honestly wonder where the civilized world would have been had Darwin not partaken on his epic journey abroad, it is still debatable as to whether his travels were necessary. And, most importantly, the world of science has a responsibility to spend money frugally and not foolishly.

REFERENCES

1. http://www.quotes.net/quote/1657 on 31-January-2012.
2. The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. (2008). space exploration, retrieved from http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/space_exploration.aspx on 29-January-2012. 3. Wikipedia.com. Homelessness in the United States, retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States#Statistics_and_demographics on 31-January-2012.