Editing On the Origin of Species (section)

==Modern influence==
[[File:CollapsedtreeLabels-simplified.svg|thumb|300px|A modern [[phylogenetic tree]] based on [[genome]] analysis shows the [[Domain (biology)|three-domain system]].]]

Various alternative evolutionary mechanisms favoured during "[[the eclipse of Darwinism]]" became untenable as more was learned about inheritance and [[mutation]]. The full significance of [[natural selection]] was at last accepted in the 1930s and 1940s as part of the [[Extended evolutionary synthesis|modern evolutionary synthesis]]. During that synthesis biologists and statisticians, including [[R. A. Fisher]], [[Sewall Wright]] and [[J. B. S. Haldane]], merged Darwinian selection with a statistical understanding of [[Mendelian genetics]].<ref name=Quammen205-234/>

[[Evolution|Modern evolutionary theory]] continues to develop. Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, with its tree-like model of branching [[common descent]], has become the unifying theory of the [[life science]]s. The theory explains the diversity of living organisms and their adaptation to the environment. It makes sense of the [[geological record]], biogeography, parallels in [[embryo]]nic development, [[Homology (biology)|biological homologies]], [[vestigiality]], [[cladistics]], [[phylogenetics]] and other fields, with unrivalled explanatory power; it has also become essential to applied sciences such as [[evolutionary medicine|medicine]] and agriculture.<ref>{{Citation |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/biography.html |title=Biography |date=21 January 2009 |publisher=[[The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online]] |access-date=23 April 2009}}</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Larson|2004|pp=287–288, 295}}</ref> Despite the scientific consensus, a religion-based political [[creation–evolution controversy|controversy]] has developed over how evolution is taught in schools, especially in the United States.<ref>{{Harvnb|Darwin|Costa|2009|p=x}}</ref>

Interest in Darwin's writings continues, and scholars have generated an extensive literature, the [[Darwin Industry]], about his life and work. The text of ''Origin'' itself has been subject to much analysis including a [[variorum]], detailing the changes made in every edition, first published in 1959,<ref>{{Harvnb|Peckham|1959}}, recently reprinted.</ref> and a [[Concordance (publishing)|concordance]], an exhaustive external index published in 1981.<ref>{{Harvnb|Quammen|2006|pp=179, 271–283}}</ref> Worldwide commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the publication of ''On the Origin of Species'' and the bicentenary of Darwin's birth were scheduled for 2009.<ref>The [[International Standard Text Code|ISTC]] of ''On the Origin of Species'' is A02-2009-00000001-4. As a tribute to its influence, this work has been the first one to be registered by The International ISTC Agency.</ref> They celebrated the ideas which "over the last 150 years have revolutionised our understanding of nature and our place within it".<ref>{{Citation |url=http://www.darwin200.org/what-is.html |title=Darwin 200: Celebrating Charles Darwin's bicentenary – What is Darwin200? |publisher=The [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] |access-date=23 April 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090228095055/http://www.darwin200.org/what-is.html <!--Added by H3llBot--> |archive-date=28 February 2009}}</ref>

In a survey conducted by a group of academic booksellers, publishers and librarians in advance of Academic Book Week in the United Kingdom, ''On the Origin of Species'' was voted the most influential academic book ever written.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.livescience.com/52756-darwins-book-most-influential.html|title=Darwin's 'Origin of Species' Voted Most Influential Academic Book|date=11 November 2015|publisher=Tia Ghose|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> It was hailed as "the supreme demonstration of why academic books matter" and "a book which has changed the way we think about everything".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/nov/10/on-the-origin-of-species-voted-most-influential-academic-book-charles-darwin|title=On the Origin of Species voted most influential academic book in history|date=10 November 2015|publisher=Alison Flood|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref>