Charles Darwin is best known as a biologist, yet in his early career his referred to himself as a geologist. The purposes of this project are to understand the meaning and significance of this self-identification. To do so, I propose to study Darwin's geological manuscripts in the Cambridge University Library and his geological specimens held in the Sedgwick Museum in Cambridge, England, and to visit the field sites important to the development of glacial theory that involved Darwin. This research will yield a book that will examine Darwin's geology and trace its connections with his thinking about species.
