Darwin

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

  • Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.

  • Attended Edinburgh University to study medicine.

  • At age 18, went to study Divinity at Cambridge. While there he also pursued his passion for biology by collecting beetles and walking on the Fens.

  • Was recommended as a "gentleman naturalist" on a voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle. Visited four continents collecting specimens and investigating the local geology.

  • HMS Beagle visited the Galapágos Islands where he studiedfinches, tortoises, and mockingbirds.

  • Reviewed his specimens and began to notice how transmutation happened

  • Darwin went public with his groundbreaking theory of evolution by natural selection.

  • Darwin published his new theory of evolution.

  • Origin of Species became a bestseller worldwide and went into multiple editions.

  • Published The Descent of Man, which presented his ideas on the account of human evolution.

  • Died at the age of 73