Charles Darwin By Isabella French

The early years …….. Charles Darwin was born on February 12th 1809 in Shrewsbury. His parents were Dr Robert and Susannah Darwin. As a child Charles was fascinated by the natural world and would collect plants and insects.

Education In 1825 he began training as a doctor at Edinburgh University. After studying for two years he left because he was bored in the lectures’ and he could not stand the surgeries. It was during those two years at university that Charles learned taxidermy.

Education continued……. In 1828 Charles Darwin was sent to Cambridge university to study to become a priest. He became close friends with John Henslow and Adam Sedgwick In 1831 after finishing his degree John Henslow recommended Darwin for the naturalists position on the HMS Beagle.

HMS Beagle The HMS Beagle set sail on the 27th December 1831, this map shows the voyage they embarked on.

HMS Beagle Over this five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle, Darwin collected plants, animals and fossils. He also wrote vast amounts of field notes. Darwin was particularly interested in the Galapagos Islands, here he collected finches. He realized that they all descended from a single ancestor but adapted into 13 different species of finch to suit the different food available on specific islands.

Returning to England After he returned to England in 1836, he began to explore his theories. He became well known as a geologist through his diary publications. In 1842 he wrote his theory of natural selection but didn’t dare to publish it.

Linnean society In 1858 Darwin sent his revolutionary theory of evolution to the Linnean society The Linnean society is the worlds oldest active biological society it was set up to study and catalogue the natural world.

Why was he famous ? On the 24th of November 1859 he published his most famous work ‘On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection’ This caused great controversy at the time as it was against religious beliefs. On 19 April 1882 Charles Darwin died aged 73. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.