This WEDNESDAY is kind of slushy here.

February 12, 1809 was the birthday of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin (and presumably a number of other people). Each of these men has had a remarkable impact on the world we live in today.

Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War, defending the nation as a constitutional union, defeating the Confederacy, playing a major role in the abolition of slavery, expanding the power of the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy. He was born in poverty in Kentucky and raised on the frontier. He was self-educated and became a lawyer and later a politician.

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist,^[6] widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended from a common ancestor is now generally accepted and considered a fundamental scientific concept. In a joint presentation with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history and was honored by burial in Westminster Abbey.

Darwin traveled on the five-year Second Voyage of the HMS Beagle, a small ship of the British navy. The voyage was intended as a voyage of exploration and lasted five years. Darwin had kept a diary of his experiences, and combined this with details from his scientific notes as the book titled Journal and Remarks, published in 1839 as the third volume of the official account of the expedition. This travelogue and scientific journal was widely popular, and was reprinted many times with various titles and a revised second edition, becoming known as The Voyage of the Beagle. His observations during the voyage led to his understanding of evolution and he published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species.