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Charles Darwin 1809-1882
Darwin attending the University in Edinburgh to study medicine. He found the lectures boring. Darwin said about human anatomy "the subject disgusted me"(Darwin, 1999). During his medical studies Darwin attended two operations performed without anesthesia, it didn't exist yet. Of that Darwin said "The two cases fairly hunted me for many a long year." (Darwin 1999). It was this experiences in medical school that drove Darwin to find a different profession in the Natural Sciences. -
Charles Darwin 1809-1882
Darwin begins his voyage on the HMS Beagle. Darwin traveled to the Galapagos Islands among other locations. During this voyage Darwin wrote in journals of his accounts and observations. These journals would later become the basis for his theory on evolution through natural selection, and for his book On the Origin of Species. -
Charles Darwin 1809-1882
Darwin received a letter from Alfred Wallace in which he states his theories on evolution. Darwin said about this letter that it "contained exactly the same theory as mine" (Darwin, 1999). This led Darwin to finally publish his famous book Origin of Species. Darwin had refrain from publishing his theory of evolution due to his fear of loosing his gentlemanly statues. His views on evolution at the time were "popular in radical circles of the inexpensive anatomy schools. (Godfrey and Smith, 141). -
Charles Darwin 1809-1882
Darwin published Origin of Species. His book brought about " the belief in natural selection as the mechanism for evolution." (Godfrey and Smith, 143). This however didn't happen until 100 years later. Although Darwin believed in his theory, he was also aware of the difficulties confronting his theory saying that " Species come to be tolerably well-defined objects, and do not at any one period present an inextricable chaos of varying and intermediate links" (Darwin, 177).
