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H.M.S. Beagle
Having just graduated from college, Darwin left for a five-year long excursion on the H.M.S Beagle. He was supposed to be the captains companion, but he quickly took the role of the "naturalist." Darwin observed and noted how certain animals, which were otherwise the same, possessed slight variations with each other based off their geographic location. The observations he made opened his eyes to the biological modifications that had been taking place since the beginning of time. -
Darwin's Manuscript
Darwin developed a manuscript of over 200 pages with the general idea of what he was theorizing, along with instructions to publish it in case he died before doing so himself. Alfred Wallace, another naturalist, arrived at practically the same conclusion about evolution and "natural selection" as Darwin. This put pressure on Darwin to publish his work. -
On The Origin Of Species
Darwin published his comprehensive piece on natural selection, a term he coined himself. In it he says, “If such [variations] do occur, can we doubt (remembering that many more individuals are born than can possibly survive) that individuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and of procreating their kind?” (Darwin 1859) This “survival of the fittest” concept is the key to all evolutionary change. https://youtu.be/ZbITQ0dqxCQ -
Discovery of DNA
Darwin understood that variations were passed through heredity, but at the time, it was unknown what these messengers of genetic information were. It would be almost a century after Darwin’s publication that we would discover the missing piece of Darwin’s puzzle; DNA. This spiraling mass of molecules inside all living things contains the blueprint for that species and transfers its information to decedents. Variations in the DNA, as Darwin had proposed, are passed from generation to generation -
Sources
Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species. Edited by David Quammen, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. 2008
