Charles Darwin

Date of Birth

Feb 12, 1809

Enrolled in School

1817

Mother's Death

1817

Start Voyage of the HMS Beagle

Dec 27, 1831

End of the Voyage of the HMS Beagle

Oct 2, 1836

Darwin wrote his first paper

Jan 4, 1837

In mid-December, Darwin took lodgings in Cambridge to organize work on his collections and rewrite his Journal. He wrote his first paper, showing that the South American landmass was slowly rising, and with Lyell's enthusiastic backing read it to the Geological Society of London.

Sending out Asa Gray

Sep 5, 1857

Darwin sent the American botanist Asa Gray a detailed outline of his ideas, including an abstract of Natural Selection, which omitted human origins and sexual selection. In December, Darwin received a letter from Wallace asking if the book would examine human origins.

Date of Death

Apr 19, 1882