Thomas Henry Huxley

Thomas Henry Huxley was a self-taught English biologist who became the era’s foremost champion of evolution by natural selection, earning the nickname “Darwin’s Bulldog.” A gifted lecturer and essayist, he coined the term agnostic and did pioneering work in comparative anatomy and palaeontology. His public addresses, including the 1870 British Association speech that produced this line, made him one of Victorian science’s most quotable voices — which is partly why his words are so often reassigned to his more famous friend Darwin.