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Birth 1809
Charles Darwin was born in England on 12 February 1809. -
Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle Begins
In 1831, the same year he graduated from Cambridge, he set off on his famed five year voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle (Lennox). The “meticulous field observation, collection and experimentation, note taking, and reading” conducted by Darwin during this period was to, in regard to his work, “set the course for the rest of his life” (Lennox). -
Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle Ends
During this time, Darwin also read and was heavily influenced by the works of other contemporary naturalists, such as Charles Lynell’s Principles of Geology which addressed the questions of long term geological processes of change and the “introduction” and “extinction” of species (Lennox). -
Darwin Publishes Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle
Darwin Publishes Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, based largely on his studies conducted during the voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle (Lennox). Darwin, Charles. Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. 1845. -
Darwin Publishes On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
Darwin Publishes On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Arguably his most influential work (Lennox). In it, Darwin lays out his theory of evolution, his explanation of the origin of species from common ancestors by means of natural selection (Lennox). Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. 1859. -
Explanation of Branching Evolution from a Common Ancestor
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Theory of Evolution 1
According to Darwin’s theory, “species are composed of individuals” that contain variable traits (Lennox). As species increase their numbers, some of these variable traits will be advantageous, and other disadvantageous, to those variable individuals within the species (Lennox). Due to competition for limited resources and mates, as well as the threat of predators, disease, and environmental hazards, individuals within a population “struggle” for survival (Lennox). -
Thoery of Evolution 2
Those individuals within a species that have traits that give them an advantage in this struggle will tend to survive to produce more offspring than others (Lennox). Because offspring inherit the traits of their parents, adventitious traits are passed on to future generations more often than advantageous traits (Lennox). Overtime, this variable passage of traits “will cause the character of a species to change” (Lennox). -
Theory of Evolution 3
Over longer spans of time, diverging lineages of traits within populations will tend to produce distinct species that are different from the original species, and from each other; many of the “intermediate” populations die out due to their losing the “struggle for survival” (Lennox). -
Thoery of Evolution 4
As Darwin illustrated in On the Origin of Species, this divergence of distinct species from a common ancestor population can be depicted as a branching tree, where the branches are currently living species, the stump is the command ancestor, and the lower level branches are those diverging species that went extinct (“Origin of Species” 133). Darwin’s natural, nonrandom, causal mechanize for this divergence of species is “Natural Selection” (“Origin of Species” 80). -
Theory of Evolution 5
Darwin compares artificial, human selection of variable traits seen in the breeding of animals and plants, with how the struggle for survive naturally selects for adventitious traits (“Origin of Species” 80-86). -
Darwin Publishes The Decent of Man
Darwin Publishes The Decent of Man (Wyhe).
Darwin, Charles. The Decent of Man. 1871. -
Contributions
Darwin’s greatest contributions to science, and the philosophy of science, are his insights in to the origins of complex life through evolution and its causal mechanism: natural selection (Lennox). His greatest contribution to science and the philosophy of science, in which he lays out his theory of evolution by means of natural selection, was published in his work On the Origin of Species (Lennox). -
Death 1882
Charles Darwin dies on 12 April 1882.
