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Born
Charles Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. He was born into a wealthy and influential family. His grandfathers included – China manufacturer Josiah Wedgwood, and Erasmus Darwin, one of the leading intellectuals of 18th century England. -
Edinburgh and Medical School
In 1825, aged 16, Charles became a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, as his father had done 42 years earlier. His father had pleasant memories of Edinburgh, where he was taught by the great chemist Joseph Black, who discovered magnesium, carbon dioxide, and latent heat. -
Cambridge and an Easy Degree
Early in 1828, just before his twentieth birthday, Charles Darwin enrolled at the University of Cambridge to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree. After three easy years he received his B.A. degree with marks placing him near the top of the class. He had spent much of his time hunting, dining, drinking, and playing cards – all of which he enjoyed heartily. -
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The Voyage of the Beagle 1831 – 1836
Near the end of summer 1831, after completing his degree, Darwin was offered a position as a naturalist on HMS Beagle, one of the British Royal Navy’s survey ships.
The Beagle was scheduled to make a long expedition to the South Seas. Darwin would have to pay for his place on the ship, but would be at liberty to collect specimens and send them back to the United Kingdom for his own use or profit. -
Back Home Again
Darwin arrived back in England in October 1836. He had kept in touch with John Henslow, sending him notes regularly about his geological work on the expedition. Henslow put these notes together into a 31 page pamphlet, which he distributed to Cambridge’s scientific community and beyond. -
South American continent is gradually rising
Darwin established that the South American continent is gradually rising from the ocean. Darwin present this work to the Geological Society of London at the beginning of 1837.
At the same meeting Darwin presented specimens of birds he had collected from the Galapagos Islands. Within a week, the ornithologist John Gould examined the specimens and declared the birds belonged to an entirely new group of finches. Darwin had discovered 12 new finch species and a new group of finches. -
Darwin's Theory
In 1842 he wrote his first paper on what came to be known as evolution by natural selection, but only for his own use. -
Thoughts
In 1845 he published thoughts, formed much earlier, about the new species of finches he discovered in the Galapagos Islands, saying he could imagine that one original species had been modified into all the different species. -
The Origin of Species
Darwin’s game-changing book On the Origin of Species – often called the most important book in the history of biology – became available to the public on November 24, 1859; booksellers immediately sold all 1250 copies.
Over the following years Darwin updated the book regularly. He eventually authored six significantly different editions. -
Copley Medal
In 1864 Darwin was awarded the Copley Medal, then the greatest honor in science. The award was for: “his important researches in geology, zoology, and botanical physiology.” -
The Descent of Man
In 1871 Darwin’s The Descent of Man presented evidence that humans are animals – we are members of the ape family, and are the descendants of apes.
In 1872 Darwin looked at the evolution of human psychology in his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, showing there are similarities in human and animal psychology.
The idea that species evolve had become accepted by most mainstream scientists by about the time the sixth edition of The Origin of Species came out in 1872. -
Death
Charles Darwin died aged 73 on April 19, 1882, of heart failure at his country house. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, London, next to John Herschel whose work had inspired him at university, and near his best friend Charles Lyell, whose work had influenced him greatly. Other scientists buried in Darwin’s vicinity at Westminster Abbey include Isaac Newton, Ernest Rutherford, J. J. Thomson, and Lord Kelvin.