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 ancestry, and proposed thescientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.

He published his theory with compelling evidence for evolution in his 1859 book Onthe Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species.[1][2] By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public accepted evolution asa fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed that naturalselection was the basic mechanism of evolution.[3][4] In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.[5][6]

Darwin'searly interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridgeencouraged his passion for natural science.[7] His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's uniformitarian ideas, andpublication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author.[8]

Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailedinvestigations and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection.[9] Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work hadpriority.[10] He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.[11] Darwin's...