Charles Darwin :: Biography Biographies

Charles Robert Darwin was a British scientist who laid the foundation of modernevolutionary theory with his views on life development through natural selection.He was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on February 12, 1809.After graduating from the elite school at Shrewsbury in 1825, Darwinattended the University of Edinburgh where he studied medicine. In 1827 hedropped out and entered the University of Cambridge in preparation for becominga clergyman of the Church of England. While there, Darwin met two importantpeople in his life Adam Sedgwick, a geologist, and John Stevens Henslow, anaturalist. After graduating from Cambridge in 1831, the 22-year-old Darwin wastaken aboard the English survey ship HMS Beagle, mainly because of Henslowsrecommendation, as an unpaid naturalist on an pilgrimage around the world.When the voyage began, Darwin didnt believe that species change throughtime, however he did believe in two prevailing ideas of the time. The first theory wastha t the earth was 6,000 eld old and had remained unchanged except for theeffects of floods and other catastropes. The second was that organisms weredesigned especially for certain habitats and appe atomic number 18d on the earth in their presentform.After interpretation the works of a noted geologist, Darwin began to change hisideas. He saw evidence that the earth was much older than 6,000 years. In SouthAmerica, he was witness to an earthquake that lifted the land several feet. Herealized that mountains could be built by the action of an earthquake overmillions of years. He found fossils of marine mammals mellow up on mountains,and realized that rocks must have been lifted from the ocean.Darwin also studied plants and wights. On the Galapagos Islands, hefound animals that resembled animals on the South American continent, but notexactly the same. He understood that they must have come to the islands fromthe mainland, and then adapted into new species. He also observed the plant andanimal life of South America, oceanic islands, and the Far East. He noted manyexamples that proved that animals in similar environments didnt always look thesame. For example, the emus of Australia and the rheas of South America aretwo very distinct species, but they live in the same basic kind of habitat. Darwinthought about this, and asked himself the question, if animals were formed for aspecific habitat, why would different species be found in habitats that are sosimilar?After leaving the HMS Beagle and returning to England in 1836, Darwinbegan recording his ideas about changeability of species in his Notebooks on the