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Period: 1543 to
Copernican Revolution
Another of Darwin's greatest contribution to science is helping to complete the Copernican Revolution, where the paradigm shift of the Ptolemaic model of the heavens illustrated Earth at the center of the universe vs. heliocentric model with the sun at the center of the Solar System. -
Born
Charles Darwin was born in the small town of Shrewsbury, England and the youngest of six children. His father was a medical doctor and grandfather, a renowned botanist. Darwin's mother passed away when he was 8 years old. -
Entering School
At the young age of 16, Darwin entered at the University of Edinburgh with his brother, Erasmus. A couple years later, he attend Christ's College in Cambridge. His father wanting Darwin to follow into his medical doctor footsteps, Darwin declined and chose to study natural history. -
Period: to
Charles Darwin's Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle
Darwin was 22 years old and was the ship's naturalist, a biologist who studies the influence of living species on each other and the ecosystem they inhabit. Darwin studied ranges of plants, animals, geology, and etc. -
Galapagos Islands
While on the voyage through South America, Darwin gathered a large sample of diverse bird specimens and made a key research remark about them. He noticed many of the finches habiting the island were similar to the mainland finches, but showed different characteristics of gathering food in their habit. Using his observations, Charles Darwin developed his theory of evolution through 'Natural Selection'. -
Origin of Species (Published)
One of Charles Darwin's most known and famous theories was developed in a book, Origin of Species, where it talked about how human came originally from monkeys. Unlike the religious views of most of the world (at the time) saw all humans were developed and created by God. It proposed a brand-new view and aggressive theory of evolution that most of the population was not willing to accept, shocking Victorian's religious and moral values of life. -
The Huxley-Wilberforce Debate (1860 Oxford Evolution Debate)
Between two men, Thomas Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, it was one of the first public rebukes of creationism. Charles Darwin was too ill to attend the debate, however; the cutthroat debate proceeded on. Huxley was nicknamed, Darwin's Bulldog, who was an avid defender on Darwin's 1859 Origin of Species and chastised Wilberforce by choosing to be apart of an ape's descendant than with an intellectually fraudulent man. -
The Start of Accepting His Theory...
Walter Bates, a naturalist, returning from a trip to Brazil showed his findings of natural selection that explained the conundrum of South American butterflies. Due to Darwin's theory of evolution and natural selection in species, more and more scientists were coming to the fact and accepting Darwin was correct with his findings. However, that was not the case for everyone in the world. -
Dead
Charles Darwin ending up passing away at his family home in London, and was buried at Westminster Abbey Cemetery -
Origin of Species & Related Books Shocking the World
Origin of Species sold around 50,000 copies already by 1900, along with George Combe's book, The Constitution of Man (1828) and the anonymous, Vestiges of Natural History of Creation (1844). All readings shocked readers as it showed within mankind, there was no place for God.