Charles+Darwin+(3)

Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882)  By Lexie Sanchez



Born on February 12th, 1809, Charles Robert Darwin was raised in a wealthy, happy family in Shrewsbury, Shropshire England. He aspired to pursue a career in the medical field and studied at EdinburghUniversity. He later transferred to CambridgeUniversity to study religion. In 1831, he was given the opportunity to participate in a five year expedition on the HMS Beagle. On this voyage, Darwin read “Principles of Geology” by Charles Lyell. Lyell wrote that fossils were evidence of animals living over millions of years ago. Through the voyage Darwin participated in, he discovered things that reaffirmed what he had read in Lyell’s book. Upon exploring the Galapagos Islands, Darwin made a significant discovery. He discovered the inhabitance of some form of finch on each island that was closely related, however, had significant differences. Darwin returned to England in 1836 and continued to work on analyzing and expanding on his observations and the way species evolve.



He expanded on the ideas of another evolutionist, Malthus, and introduced the idea of natural selection. Essentially, animals or plants that are best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and flourish. They will also pass on these traits that helped them to survive to their offspring, and overtime, this species changes. Darwin worked on this theory for twenty years and eventually collaborated with another naturalist with similar ideas. They made an announcement of their discovery in 1858. The following year, Darwin wrote “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection”. At this time, the common belief was that God was the creator of man and Earth. The release of this book was extremely controversial due to the idea that man was just another animal, possibly evolved from apes. Darwin faced many attacks, most commonly by the church. However, his ideas eventually gained popularity and replaced the previous orthodoxy. April 19th, 1882, Darwin died and was buried in Westminster Abbey. His final words were “I am not the least afraid of death - Remember what a good wife you have been to me - Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me” to his wife, Emma.

__**Works Cited**__ from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures
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 * Charles Darwin - English Naturalist and Philosopher - Biography. (n.d.). // The European //

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 * The Frog Blog: On the Origin of Species Anniversary. (n.d.). // The Frog Blog // . Retrieved