"On the Origin of Species"

The house that helped rock the world sits on a country lane in Downe Village, Kent, south of England. For 40 years, Down House was the perfect place for Darwin to think, write and enjoy family life out of the spotlight. The home has undergone a three-month, $1.3-million makeover for the bicentennial and is to reopen to local residents on Thursday (Darwin's birthday), and the general public Friday.

Here, the great scientist worked with inexhaustible patience in his Victorian study, staring for hours at specimens through a microscope or pondering the riddle of life. In a black armchair specially fitted with wheels, Charles Darwin wrote "On the Origin of Species," the book that forever changed the way we look at the world around us -- and at ourselves.

Charles Darwin