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Birth
Charles Darwin was born on February 12th, 1809. Charles Darwin was the grandson of the famous English evolutionist, Erasmus Darwin. Early teachings into the theory of evolution led Darwin to later on publish his research - " The Origin of Species" in 1859 -
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The Beagle
Charles Darwin set sail on the ship HMS Beagle on December 27, 1831, from Plymouth, England. Darwin was twenty-two years old when he was hired to be the ship’s naturalist. Most of the trip was spent sailing around South America. There Darwin spent considerable time ashore collecting plants and animals. Darwin filled notebooks with his observations of plants, animals, and geology. The trip was an almost five-year adventure and the ship returned to Falmouth, England, on October 2, 1836. -
Coral Reefs
On 31st May 1837, at the Geological Society in London, Charles Darwin presented a paper On certain areas of elevation and subsidence in the Pacific and Indian oceans, as deduced from the study of Coral Formations. It was the first occasion on which he described his theory of coral reef formation. -
Coral Reef Continued
The theory which Mr. Darwin then offered, so as to include every kind of [reef] structure, is simply that as the land with the attached reefs subsides very gradually from the action of subterranean causes, the coral building polypi soon again raise their solid masses to the level of the water; but not so with the land: each inch lost is irreclaimably gone:—as the whole gradually sinks, the water gains foot by foot on the shore, till the last and highest peak is finally submerged. -
Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin published his Theory of Evolution- " The Origin of Species". His theory outlines the main points of natural selection and evolution. Philosophers before him, such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarack, theorized for example, animals adapt and change physically during their lifetime to survive and then simply passed these learned changes to their offspring. Darwin theorized that animals who are born and adapt better in their environments, are more likely to survive. -
MLA Citations and References Used
The Origin of Species, Voyage of the Beagle Charles Darwin, Janet Browne (Editor), Michael Neve (Editor),The Descent of Man Charles Darwin. The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809–82 Charles Darwin, Nora Barlow (Editor) https://evolutionnews.org/i/charles-darwin/
http://friendsofdarwin.com/articles/darwin-explains-coral-reefs/#:~:text=31-May-1837%3A%20Darwin%20on%20coral%20reefs%20On%2031st%20May,he%20described%20his%20theory%20of%20coral%20reef%20formation.