On the Origin of Species, published by Charles Darwin on 24 November 1859, is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. Darwin's book presented evidence that the diversity of life arose through a branching pattern of evolution with common descent caused by the mechanism of natural selection. Prior to its publication various evolutionary ideas had been proposed to explain new findings in biology, but the English scientific establishment, closely tied to the Church of England, believed that species were unchanging parts of a designed hierarchy and had rejected ideas of transmutation of species and of humans being related to animals. The book attracted widespread interest, and generated scientific, philosophical, and religious discussion. This debate contributed to establishing secular science based on scientific naturalism. Within two decades there was widespread scientific agreement that evolution had occurred, but until the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 20th century there was much less agreement on the significance of natural selection. (more...)

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From Wikipedia's newest articles:

• ... that Robert Fortune introduced the Oval Kumquat (Fortunella margarita) (pictured) into London in 1846 from an expedition to China?
• ... that Glenn James is the only Indigenous Australian to umpire top grade Australian rules football?
• ... that the rare Izu stingray differs from all other Pacific members of its family in having a white fin fold on its tail?
• ... that a character in the 1937 Tamil film Balayogini, one of the first children's films of South India, was hailed as the "Shirley Temple of India"?
• ... that the Old Bazaar, one of the oldest and largest in the Balkans, has been Skopje's centre for trade and commerce since at least the 12 century?
• ... that South Korean fashion model Daul Kim was also a keen painter and had exhibited her works at a solo exhibition in Seoul?
• ....that RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary were fitted with stabilisers after the improvement in passenger comfort and reduction in rolling that was seen on RMS Media?
• ... that Mithaecus's recipe for the burrowing fish Cepola macrophthalma is the oldest recorded recipe?
  
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• Chinese human rights activist Huang Qi, who campaigned for the parents of children killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, is convicted of "illegally holding state secrets".
• A study finds that Homo floresiensis (skull pictured) is a distinct species and not Homo sapiens with dwarfism or microcephaly.
• At least 104 people are killed in a mine explosion in Heilongjiang, People's Republic of China.
• Continued flooding affecting Great Britain and Ireland results in two deaths.
• Egypt recalls its ambassador to Algeria in a dispute following a qualifying match between the nations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
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November 24: Teachers' Day in Turkey

• 1190 – Conrad of Montferrat became de jure uxoris King of Jerusalem after marrying Queen Isabella I.
• 1863 – American Civil War: As part of the Chattanooga Campaign in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Union forces captured Lookout Mountain, helping them to begin breaking the Confederate siege of the city.
• 1922 – Irish Civil War: Author and Irish nationalist Robert Erskine Childers was executed by firing squad by the Irish Free State for illegally carrying an automatic pistol.
• 1971 – After collecting a ransom payout of US$200,000, "D. B. Cooper" (composite drawing pictured) leaped out of the rear stairway of the airplane he had hijacked over the Pacific Northwest and disappeared.
• 1974 – A group of paleoanthropologists led by Donald Johanson discovered a 3.2-million-year-old skeleton of an Australopithecus afarensis in the Afar Depression in Ethiopia, nicknaming it "Lucy" after The Beatles song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

More anniversaries: November 23 – November 24 – November 25