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Birth of Charles Darwin
Picture of 7 year old Darwin. Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England. He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin. Robert Darwin had baby Charles baptised in November 1809 -
Darwin attends the University of Edinbugh Medical
Darwin spent the summer of 1825 as an apprentice doctor, helping his father treat the poor of Shropshire, before going to the University of Edinburgh Medical School. There He assisted Robert Edmond Grant's investigations of the anatomy and life cycle of marine invertebrates and on 27 March 1827 presented at the Plinian his own discovery that black spores found in oyster shells were the eggs of a skate leech. He later became bored with th studies -
Darwin attends Christ's College, Cambridge
The neglect of medical studies annoyed his father, who sent him to Christ's College, Cambridge, for a Bachelor of Arts degree. While there his cousin William Darwin Fox introduced him to the popular craze for beetle collecting; Darwin pursued this, getting some of his finds published in Stevens' Illustrations of British entomology. He stayed in Cambridge until June studying Paley's Natural Theology, -
Darwin recieves a letter
August 29 Darwin gets a letter from Henslow proposing him as a suitable gentleman naturalist for a place on HMS Beagle with captain Robert FitzRoy.The ship was to leave in four weeks on an expedition to chart the coastline of South America. Robert Darwin objected to his son's planned two-year voyage, regarding it as a waste of time, but was persuaded by his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood, to agree to (and fund) his son's participation -
Darwin begins his sea voyage on the HMS Beagle
The voyage began on December 27 1831; it lasted almost five years. Darwin spent most of that time on land investigating geology and making natural history collections, while the Beagle surveyed and charted coasts. He kept careful notes of his observations and theoretical speculations, and at intervals during the voyage his specimens were sent to Cambridge. Despite suffering badly from seasickness, Darwin wrote copious notes while on board the ship -
Darwin arrives on the Galapagos Islands
On the geologically new Galápagos Islands Darwin looked for evidence attaching wildlife to an older "centre of creation". nhe found mockingbirds similar to those in Chile but differing from island to island. He heard that slight variations in the shape of tortoise shells showed which island they came from. -
The Beagle returns to land
When the Beagle reached Falmouth, Cornwall, on 2 October 1836, Darwin was already a celebrity in scientific circles. Charles Lyell met Darwin for the first time on October 29th and soon introduced him to the up-and-coming anatomist Richard Owen, who had the facilities of the Royal College of Surgeons to work on the fossil bones collected by Darwin. -
Darwin moves to london
Darwin moved to London to be near this work, joining Lyell's social circle of scientists and experts. By mid-March, Darwin was speculating in his Red Notebook on the possibility that "one species does change into another" to explain the geographical distribution of living species such as the rheas, and extinct ones "His thoughts on lifespan, asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction developed in his "B" notebook around mid-July on to variation in offspring "to adapt & alter the race to chan. -
Darwin gets married
Charles Darwin is married to Emma Darwin, his cousin -
Darwins first child is born
first of 10, two of wich died at infancy -
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Research and exploration
Darwin contiues his writings on his findings -
Publication of Darwin's theory
Finding answers to difficult questions held him up repeatedly, and he expanded his plans to a "big book on species" titled Natural Selection. He continued his researches, obtaining information and specimens from naturalists worldwide. Finally the theory of natural selection was published -
On the Origin of Species
When published the book proved unexpectedly popular, with the entire stock of 1,250 copies oversubscribed when it went on sale to booksellers. In the book, Darwin set out "one long argument" of detailed observations, inferences and consideration of anticipated objections -
Charles Darwin dies
Darwin was diagnosed with what was called "angina pectoris" which then meant coronary thrombosis and disease of the heart. At the time of his death, the physicians diagnosed "anginal attacks", and "heart-failure. His last words were to his family, telling Emma "I am not the least afraid of death" he was burried in Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton
