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Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England. His father, Robert Darwin had high hopes for Charles to be a doctor and/or study medicine but instead was more interested in Natural Selection. -
In 1831, Darwin embarked on a voyage on the HMS Beagle where he was employed as a naturalist. His main purpose was to survey the coastline of South America and chart its harbors to make better maps of the region. While doing so, Charles spent much of his trip collecting data on plants, animals, rocks, and fossils. For instance, his coral reef theory. This coral reef theory was a perfect example of the theory of climate. -
In October 1836, Darwin continued his work by studying his samples which lead to scientific discoveries. He shared his work with paleontologists and geologists while questioning how species change over time which led him to natural selection. -
On November 24, 1859, Darwin published his thoughts about evolution and natural selection in On the Origin of Species. The theory of natural selection states that individuals of a species are more likely to survive in their environment and pass on their genes to the next generation when they inherit traits from their parents that are best suited for that specific environment. Such traits become more widespread in the species and can eventually lead to the development of a new species. -
Crash Course of Darwin and Natural Selection
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On May 15, 1862 Darwin published The Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects. Darwin explained that a piece of floral was not designed by God but honed by selection to attract insect cross pollinators. The petal guided by the bees to nectarines, and pollen sacs were deposited exactly where they could be removed by a stigma of another flower. https://youtu.be/-S1wIg3GCAY -
Darwin continued to experiment and published Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication in January 1868 where he explored the causes of variation in domestic breeds. This book answered critics that challenged his theories such as George Douglas.
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Darwin’s botanical work was always related to his evolutionary mechanism. He believed that cross-pollinated plants would produce fitter offspring than self-pollinators, and he used considerable ingenuity in conducting thousands of crossings to prove the point. The results appeared in The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom ( February 15, 1876). -
Charles Darwin died on April 19, 1882, at the age of seventy-three. He was known for his scientific theory of evolution by natural selection.
