‘There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.’
Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species (1859)
I’ve been a historian for 20 years. I’m passionate about LGBTQ+ history, especially as it relates to the pursuit of science in 19th- and 20th-century Britain. My first book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life: A History of Sex and Science, will be published by Yale University Press in August 2026.
Darwin Drag is a new video project by trailblazing artist Yuki Kihara and is partly based on my research. It forms part of Yuki’s evolving Darwin in Paradise Camp exhibition. It was shown at the Sainsbury Centre, Norwich, between March and August 2025 and can now be seen at the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, until…
Queer Planet was first broadcast in the UK on Sky Nature in November 2023 and in the US on Peacock in June 2024. Watch the UK trailer here, and the US trailer here.
Dr Ross Brooks (he/him) 