November 24 Birthday
On November 24, 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species. The first print run of 1,250 copies sold out on the first day. Darwin had delayed publication for twenty years, partly because he feared the reaction and partly because he wanted to gather more evidence. The book proposed natural selection as the mechanism of evolution — species change over generations, with traits that enhance survival being preserved. Darwin did not coin the phrase "survival of the fittest" — Herbert Spencer did — and Darwin only adopted it in later editions. The book revolutionized biology and challenged the biblical account of creation. In 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald was shot and killed by Jack Ruby in the basement of Dallas Police Headquarters, on live national television. Oswald was being transferred from the city jail to the county jail. Ruby walked past reporters and shot Oswald in the abdomen. Oswald died at the hospital. The killing prevented Oswald from ever being tried, fueling conspiracy theories that have persisted for sixty years. People born on November 24 fall under the zodiac sign of Sagittarius. The birthstone is Topaz and the birth flower is Chrysanthemum. Historical events on November 24 include 1859: Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, 1963: Lee Harvey Oswald shot and killed by Jack Ruby on live television, 1971: "D.B. Cooper" hijacks Northwest Orient plane, parachutes with $200,000, never found. Famous people born on November 24 include Dale Carnegie (1888), William F. Buckley Jr. (1925), Katherine Heigl (1978).