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Charle Darwin's First Scientific Speech
Charles Darwin gave his first scientific lecture at the Plinian Society, a club for natural sciences students in Edinburgh, England at the age of 18. This was on his discovery that larva of sea mats could swim and that the black spots in oysters were skate leech eggs. -
Charles Darwin elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of London
He argues that the Human Population was growing faster than the food that was able to support it leaving the population to compete for survival. He wrote papers about how Natural Selection applied not only to animals but also to the human world. "Man tends to increase at a greater rate than his means of subsistence; consequently he is occasionally subjected to a severe struggle for existence, and natural selection will have effected whatever lies within its scope." (Descent of Man, Ch.21) -
Darwin announces Theory of Evolution
Darwin decides to publicly announce his Theory of Evolution which is read at the Linnean Society in London. It was comprised of Darwin's 1839 manuscript on species variation, "The Variation of Organic Beings under Domestication and in their Natural State," and "On the Variation of Organic Beings in the State of Nature; on the Natural Means of Selection; on the Comparison of Domestic Races and true Species." and an abstract from a letter written to Harvard. -
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Publishes "The Descent of Man"
He publishes his second book on the Theory of Evolution. He applies his theory and relates it to his Theory of Sexual Selection. It outlines evolutionary psychology, differences between human races, the superiority of men to women, and evolution in relation to society. Just like his first book, "The Origin of Species", it was an immediate success in the scientific community. Darwin, C. R. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray. Volume 1. 1st edition.
