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Charles Darwin 1809-1882- Started College
Charles Darwin was born Febuary 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England and came from a long line of scientists. He first attended the University of Edinburgh at age 16, but then later enrolled at Christ's College where he would meet his mentor John Stevens Henslow. This is an important event in Darwin's life because after he graduated from Christ's College in 1831 his mentor, Henslow, recommended Darwin to embark on a 5-year voyage that changed his life forever (Biography, ch. 3, pars. 1-6). -
Charles Darwin 1809-1882 Began Voyage Aboard the HMS Beagle
Darwin set sail aboard the HMS Beagle as a naturalist. He spent the majority of the trip on land observing. He did much work in the fields of geology, zoology, and botany in rain forests and several islands. His discoveries showed an ever-changing world in which life has been a part of, and has also continuously changed throughout time. He collected fossils of extinct animals such as the giant armadillo; they brought about his interest in evolution and how it worked. (Desmond, ch. 3, pars 1-6). -
Charles Darwin 1809-1882 Theory of Natural Selection
Charles Darwin continued to study life and how it evolved. At first he adopted the idea of "transmutation" which is now referred to as evolution. Examinations of fossils and specimens, observations of primate behaviors, and reading the ideas of Thomas Malthus all brought Darwin to his conclusion that life progresses through several types of competition. The winners of the competition are the ones that the next generations are based on genetically (Desmond, ch. 4, pars. 1-8). -
Charles Darwin 1809-1882 On the Origins of Species
He he wrapped up his theory with the explanation of genera splits in species by random variations that work better than the rest. With all his information, he wrote his book titled "Natural Selection" but then made a better version and called it "On the Origin of Species". It was met with great controversy but was defended by Darwin's colleagues and he was later praised for his work (Desmond, ch. 6, par. 2). Link text
