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Charles Darwin
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Birth
Charles Darwin is born in Shrewsbury, England to Robert and Susannah Darwin. Robert was a wealthy physician and Susannah came from a wealthy English family. Charles was fourth of five children and only one of two boys. -
Medical School - Edinburgh University
With an affinity for science early on, Charles is enrolled in Medical School at the age of 16 follow in his father's footsteps. He however is revolted by the sight of blood and reportedly bored with his professors. Charles withdraws for Medical School and instead is redirected, by his father, to be a clergyman instead. -
University of Cambridge
Because clergymen profession required graduation from college, Charles enrolled into Cambridge. There he found interest in botany, geology, minerology, and philosophy. Though science was present at the university, Christianity was still rooted in it as well. This conflicted with young Charles Darwin (CD) as he wished to know the "how" and "why." -
HMS Beagle
Following graduation from Cambridge in 1831, CD was selected to embark on a voyage under Captain FitzRoy to work in the capacity of geologist/mineralogist for the HMS Beagle's voyage. It was originally set to only be a two-year voyage to South America and back, but it turned out to last five years. It was during this voyage, specifically the stop at the Canary Islands, did CD observe the truth to his theory of natural selection based on variations of animals within the same species. -
Darwin's Theory Continued
Looking at CD's theory of evolution, it can be broken down into three parts. First, organisms adapt based on given surroundings in order to survive over their peers. Second, traits are passed to offspring giving the enhanced offspring of the species an advantage in gaining of resources needed for survival. Third, members of species who did not mutate to adapt to their environment die off, leaving the species who mutated left and therefore altering the species from its original state. -
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
After returning from his voyage in 1836, CD went to work to replicate his hypothesis from the Canary Islands on the theory of natural selection. Using the process of artificial breeding from farmlands, he proved that even through artificial breeding, species were still exhibiting "undesired" mutations due to their surroundings. This was due to Malthusians theory that population growth and fall is dictated by food in the area. -
A brief video
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Death
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References
Gould, Stephen Jay. Ever since Darwin: Reflections in Natural History. Norton, 2007.
Darwin, Charles Robert, and Richard D. Keynes. Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary. Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Ruse, Michael, and Michael Ruse. Charles Darwin, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=428154.