I think it's fair enough that it is expected by Milton that everyone who
claims basic education should know the basics of Darwin's biography.  After
all, it can very reasonably be claimed that he is one of the three or four
most important figures of this rapidly ending millennium.

How fortunate it is to live in a country sensible enough to name a city
after him.

Robert Davidson

Brad wrote in part:
But there is another implication here: that *everyone* should
know the basics of Darwin's biography.

Does everyone here know
about Giovanni de Dondi's great technological accomplishment ca. 1375?
There is also apparently a book somewhere about a remarkable
Hellenistic period astronomical clock that may even have
exceeded de Dondi's accomplishment -- only ca. 1500 years earlier.
Since everyone should know everything, I will appreciate the
citations for this item which someone once told me
about and which I was so foolish as to not write it down.