Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin, FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist.[I] He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors,[1] and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificialselection involved in selective breeding.[2]
Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species.[3][4] By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was notuntil the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution.[5][6] In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.[7][8]
Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education atthe University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science.[9] His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popularauthor.[10]
Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection.[11] Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority.[12] He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred RusselWallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.[13] Darwin's work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature.[5] In 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expressionof the Emotions in Man and Animals. His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.[14]
In recognition of Darwin's pre-eminence as a scientist, he was honoured with a state funeral and buried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.[15] Darwin has been described as one of the most influentialfigures in human history.[16][17]
Contents * 1 Life * 1.1 Childhood and education * 1.2 Voyage of the Beagle * 1.3 Inception of Darwin's evolutionary theory * 1.4 Overwork, illness, and marriage * 1.4.1 Malthus and natural selection * 1.5 Preparing the theory of natural selection for publication * 1.6 Publication of the theory of natural selection *1.7 Responses to publication * 1.8 Descent of Man, sexual selection, and botany * 1.9 Death and legacy * 2 Children * 3 Views and opinions * 3.1 Religious views * 3.2 Human society * 4 Evolutionary social movements * 5 Commemoration * 6 Works * 7 See also * 8 Notes * 9 Citations * 10 References * 11 External links |
Life
Childhood and education
Seealso: Charles Darwin's education and Darwin-Wedgwood family
Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809 at his family home, The Mount,[18] He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood). He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin on his father's side, and of Josiah Wedgwood on his...