Darwin’s genius was synthesizing three observable facts:
The publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859 was the pivot point upon which modern biology turned. It wasn't just a scientific hypothesis; it was a paradigm shift. The narrative of evolution is one of chance, necessity, and deep time. When a historian sits down to write a "remarkable history" of this theory, they are chronicling a war of ideas. They track the debates between Bishop Wilberforce and Thomas Huxley, the rediscovery of Mendelian genetics in the early 20th century, and the eventual unification of Darwin’s natural selection with DNA technology.