Charles Darwin is also known as Charles Robert Darwin (Born Shrewsbury, February 12, 1809 – Downe, April 19, 1882) was an English self-taught teacher of natural history, biology, and geology. Darwin was famous for having formulated the theory of evolution of species, animals, and plants for natural selection.
The existence of evolution was already around 1850 by a large part of the scientific community accepted. The acceptance of natural selection as a driving mechanism has taken longer but is now undisputed.
Darwin was educated and trained according to the beliefs of natural theology then common in England, which sought to unite religion and science. However, thanks to the observations and discoveries he made throughout his life, he became increasingly doubtful both about these common ideas about speciation and about his personal faith.
During a research trip with the ship the Beagle (1831-1836), Darwin visited South America, Australia, the south of Africa, and various island groups in the Pacific and the Indian Ocean. In all these places he studied the local animals, plants, fossils, and geology.
Much of his further life was devoted to researching and classifying the objects collected on his journey, and it was thanks to this research that he came up with his theory of species creation. Darwin’s work marked a paradigm shift and a scientific revolution that had a profound impact on society, philosophy, and religion.
The acceptance of the evolution of species meant that man had to be regarded as an animal species, part of nature, rather than as a life form above nature. Darwin’s theory of evolution is now, along with the genetics of Mendel, the basis of all life scientific theories.
Quick Facts: Charles Darwin
- Born: 12 February 1809, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
- Also Known As: Charles Robert Darwin
- Known for: Natural Selection Walked through the theory of evolution
- Education: University of Edinburgh, Scotland, University of Cambridge, England
- Parents: Robert Waring Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood
- Spouse: Emma Wedgwood
- Children: William Erasmus Darwin, Anne Elizabeth Darwin, Mary Eleanor Darwin, Henrietta Emma Darwin, George Howard Darwin, Elizabeth Darwin, Francis Darwin, Leonard Darwin, Horace Darwin, Charles Darwin Waring
- Prizes and Awards: Royal Medal, Wollaston Medal, Copley Medal (all for excellence in science)
- Died: April 19, 1882, in Downe, Kent, England
- Quote:
The Early Life of Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, the county of Shropshire, the family estate of Mount House. The fifth of six children of a wealthy doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin, English Wedgwood. He is the grandson of paternal naturalist Erasmus Darwin and maternal artist Josiah Wedgwood.
Both families largely adopted Unitarianism, but Wedgwood was parishioners of the Anglican Church. Robert Darwin himself had enough free views and agreed that little Charles receives communion in the Church of England, but at the same time, Charles and his brothers attended the Unitarian Church with their mother.
By the time he enrolled in a day school in 1817, the eight-year-old Darwin was already involved in natural history and collecting. This year, in July, his mother dies, and the upbringing of an 8-year-old boy lies entirely on the shoulders of his father, who did not always sensitively listen to his son’s spiritual needs.
Since September 1818, he, together with his older brother Erasmus Alvey Darwin enters the boarding school at the nearest Anglican Shrewsbury School, where the future naturalist, who passionately loved nature, had to study “things dry for his living soul,” as classical languages and literature.
No wonder that he discovered a complete lack of abilities and made his teacher and others hopelessly wave his hand at him. A year later, a poor student at an elementary school begins to collect collections of butterflies, minerals, and shells. Then another passion appears hunting.
Father and those around him considered these hobbies to be the main reason for Charles’s failure, but their frequent reproaches and even threats taught him to listen only to his inner voice, and not external instructions. Toward the end of school life, a new hobby appeared – chemistry, and for this “empty pastime” he received a very strict reprimand from the director of the gymnasium.
Gymnasium years naturally ended in receiving a mediocre certificate. Before going with his brother Erasmus to the University of Edinburgh, in the summer of 1825, he acts as an assistant student and helps his father in his medical practice, helping the poor Shropshire.
Charles Darwin Marriage and Children
On January 29, 1839, Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in Maer with an Anglican ceremony adapted to suit the Unitarians. After a short stay on Gower Street in London, the couple moved to Downe, Kent, on September 17, 1842 (now a museum).
The Darwinians had ten children, three of whom died prematurely. Many of them and their grandchildren later became important personalities themselves:
- William Darwin (December 27, 1839 – September 8, 1914 )
- Anne Darwin (March 2, 1841 – April 22, 1851 )
- Mary Darwin (September 23, 1842 – October 16, 1842 )
- Henrietta “Etty” (September 25, 1843 – 1929 )
- George Howard Darwin (July 9, 1845 – December 7, 1912 )
- Elizabeth Darwin (July 8, 1847 – 1926 )
- Francis Darwin (August 16, 1848 – September 19, 1925 )
- Leonard Darwin (January 15, 1850 – March 26, 1943 )
- Horace Darwin (May 13, 1851 – September 29, 1928 )
- Charles Darwin (December 6, 1856 – June 28, 1858 )
The Journey of The Beagle
Darwin’s work during the Beagle expedition allowed him to study primarily geology, fossils, and several living organisms, as well as to meet indigenous peoples. He methodically collected a large number of specimens, many of which science did not know until then.
This gave him a reputation as a naturalist and the position of one of the forerunners of ecology. Detailed notes obtained during the trip formed the basis of his later work and also provided a social, political, and anthropological view of the areas he visited.
After reading Principles of Geology by Charles Lyell, Darwin wrote home that “saw the formation of rocks as if through the eyes of Lyell.” He considered the stepped plains of seashells and shells in Patagonia to be raised beaches. He experienced an earthquake in Chile that lifted the earth, then high in the Andes, he saw seashells.
He theorized that coral atolls had formed on the sinking volcanic mountains, which was later confirmed by a survey of the Cocos Islands. During the voyage, Darwin was diagnosed with seasickness. In October 1833 he developed a fever in Argentina and in July 1834, on his return from the Andes to Valparaiso, he fell ill and spent a month in bed.
From 1834 he repeatedly suffered from stomach pain, vomiting, high fevers, palpitations, chills, and other symptoms. These symptoms affected him especially at the time when he was exposed to stress. During Darwin’s lifetime, the causes of his illness were unknown and attempts at treatment were unsuccessful.
Recent research has prompted the hypothesis that he suffered from Chagas’ disease caused by insect bites from South America. Other possible causes include psychobiological problems and Meniere’s disease. He discovered fossils of the giant South American species Megatherium and Armadillo in layers that showed no signs of a catastrophe or climate change, and later found that these were related to the creature still living in the area.
He noticed, for example, that the Argentine bird Nanda on the various Galapagos Islands forms different species in geographically close territories. Upon his return, he found that this also applied to the Galapagos tortoises and pines. The Australian camouflage and the strange bird’s eye led him to wonder if “an unbeliever could shout, ‘Two different Creators must have worked here!'”
In the first edition of the book naturalist’s journey around the world on the Beagle looked at the division of species in light of Charles Lyell ‘disease of “centers of creation,” but in later editions, he suggested using the Galapagos Islands fauna as evidence of evolution: “One could easily imagine that the original bird’s peninsula, one species was removed and modified. ”
The Beginning of The Theory of Evolution
In December 1835, a year before returning to England, Darwin’s letters were introduced to the community of naturalists by his teacher Henslow. He quickly became famous. Darwin arrived in England on October 2, 1836. He visited his home in Shrewsbury to meet his relatives, then quickly went to Cambridge to see Mr. Henslow.
He suggested that Darwin look for naturalists to classify collections, and he would classify plant samples. Darwin’s father funded his research as an independent scientist. Darwin excited looking around the institute in London Experts to classify specimens.
Charles Lyell is eager to meet Darwin for the first time on October 29. He introduced Darwin to surgeon Richard Owen, who was on his way to London. The Royal College of Surgeons, where Owen has researched, has the equipment to analyze the samples of Darwin’s fossil bones collected.
Owen was surprised to see sloths extinct, an almost complete skeleton (of Scelidotherium, now unknown), a rodent-like skull of a hippopotamus-like appearance. giant water pig (capybara) (of Toxodon species). There are many borders of the species Glyptodon. These extinct species are closely related to species that live in South America.
Darwin arrived in Cambridge in mid-December to arrange his work and edit his travel diary. He wrote the first scientific report on large swathes of South America emerging. Lyell enthusiastically helped him address the Geography Society in London on January 4, 1837.
On the same day, he presented mammoth and bird specimens to the Zoological Society. John Gould found that the birds Darwin thought were crows, pink birds, and big beaks were twelve species of sparrows.different. February 17 Darwin was elected a member of the Geographical Society, where Lyell was chairman. Lyell introduces Owen’s findings of the collected Darwin fossils.
He emphasized that the gradual change of species across geographic regions also supports his idea of unity. In early March, Darwin moved to London to ease his work. He joined Lyell’s community of scientists and savants. He met Charles Babbage, who described God as a programmer for laws. John Herschel’s letter about the “mystery of the mystery” of newly formed species is widely discussed.
By mid-July 1837 Darwin started writing the Transformation of Species. On page 36 of the book entitled “B” he wrote “I think” above the evolution tree. During his first meeting to detail his findings, Gould told Darwin the Galápagos mockingbirds on the islands were independent species, not just mutations.
Besides, the wren belongs to the family of birds (finch). The two ostriches also belong to different species. On March 14 Darwin announced that their distribution changed to the south. In mid-March Darwin assumed that there was the possibility that “one species transformed into another” to explain the geographic distribution of living species such as ostriches and extinct species such as Macrauchenia (which looked like giant guanaco).
He sketched a lineage, and then a genetic branch of a single evolutionary tree. With this evolutionary tree, “It is pointless to say that one species is more advanced than another,” and thus rejects the hypothesis that linear progression from one form to another is more advanced than Lamarckism.
Charles Darwin Death
Charles Darwin died in Down, County Kent, on April 19, 1882. Although he assumed that he was buried in the cemetery of St. Mary in Down, at the request of Darwin’s colleagues, the president of the Royal Society, William Spottiswoode, arranged a state funeral for Darwin. He was buried in Westminster Abbey near the grave of Isaac Newton.