The Enduring Power of the “Monkey-to-Man” Image

Lauren RubensteinOctober 27, 20121min
Tucker explores how this misleading graphic has stirred controversy over evolution for more than a century

Writing in The Boston Globe’s Sunday Ideas section, Jennifer Tucker, associate professor of history, associate professor of science and society, associate professor and chair of feminist, gender, and sexuality studies, explores the enduring power of the 150-year-old “Monkey-to-Man” evolution image. Though it is universally agreed that the image is an inaccurate depiction of Darwinian evolutionary theory, it has prevailed as a “lightning rod for debate,” Tucker writes.