Darwin Versus Lincoln: Who Won?

A little more than a year ago we asked: Who Was More Important? Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin? It seems like an odd question, but since they were both born on the same day—February 12, 1809—we thought we'd give the thought experiment a try. Two Smithsonian editors argued for Lincoln and two others for Darwin. We then asked you, our readers, to weigh in.

Who won? Well, Darwin edges out Lincoln in our poll (and you're welcome to vote even now). I guess my powers of persuasion won out. Or perhaps we stacked the deck by placing such a debate on a science blog.

Sarah Zielinski | | READ MORE

Sarah Zielinski is an award-winning science writer and editor. She is a contributing writer in science for Smithsonian.com and blogs at Wild Things, which appears on Science News.