Charles Darwin February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882 by Katharine E. Hamilton

Education Discovering His Passion Studied medicine at Edinburgh, theology at Cambridge Interest in natural history Taught by a freed black slave who told him exciting tales of the South American Rainforest

HMS Beagle Took five years, two-thirds of which Darwin spent on land. Collected an enormous number of specimens, many of them new to science.

HMS Beagle Discoveries Galápagos: collected birds, noted that mockingbirds differed depending on which island they came from. – Transmutation: creatures new to islands become altered in some way to form new species.

Evolutionary Theory 1. Evolution did occur. 2.Evolutionary change is gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years. 3.The primary mechanism for evolution is natural selection. – The survival or extinction of each organism is determined by that organism's ability to adapt to its environment. 4.Evolution by common descent is the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature.

On the Origin of Species Public’s Reaction Darwin’s Origin of Species released November 22, 1859 – Appealed to public interest, but expert biologists continued to uphold the dogma of creation and the constancy of species

On the Origin of Species Religious Atmosphere Never once uses the word “evolution,” instead refers to his theory as “descent with modification.” Proclaimed himself “the Devil’s Chaplain.” Publishing the theory felt “like confessing a murder.”

Darwin’s Impact Religion We may now dismiss this most powerful reason for believing in God. – Richard Dawkins: “I could not imagine being an atheist before 1859, when Darwin’s Origin of Species was published... Darwin made it possible to be an intellectually fulfilled atheist”

Darwin’s Impact Philosophy Man is the consequence of a series of improbable events Emancipation of science from philosophy – Changed our perceptions with an argument entirely outside the framework of classical philosophy.

Darwin’s Impact Society Revelations about Race Eugenics Social Darwinism

Other Contributions to Science Study of Flowers Explored how the beauty of flowers serves to control insect pollination and ensures cross fertilization.

Other Contributions to Science The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex Published in Introduces concept of sexual selection to explain: – Evolution of human culture – Differences between human sexes – Differentiation of human races – Beautiful (and seemingly non-adaptive) plumage of birds

Other Contributions to Science The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Published in Focused on the evolution of human psychology and its continuity with the behavior of animals. The human mind and cultures were developed by natural and sexual selection

Later Life Overwork, Illness, and Death Plagued by illness for over 20 years until his death. Buried in Westminster Abbey next to Isaac Newton

“It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by the laws acting around us….There is a grandeur in this view of life….whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.”

Major Works 1836: A LETTER, Containing Remarks on the Moral State of TAHITI, NEW ZEALAND, &c. – BY CAPT. R. FITZROY AND C. DARWIN, ESQ. OF H.M.S. 'Beagle.' : Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle 1839: Journal and Remarks (The Voyage of the Beagle) 1842: The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs 1844: Geological Observations of Volcanic Islands 1846: Geological Observations on South America 1851: A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, with Figures of all the Species. The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes. 1851: A Monograph on the Fossil Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes of Great Britain 1854: A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, with Figures of all the Species. The Balanidae (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidae, etc. 1854: A Monograph on the Fossil Balanidæ and Verrucidæ of Great Britain 1858: On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection 1859: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life 1862: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects 1868: Variation of Plants and Animals Under Domestication 1871: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex 1872: The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals 1875: Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants 1875: Insectivorous Plants 1876: The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom 1877: The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species 1880: The Power of Movement in Plants 1881: The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms The bolded works highlight the broad range of Darwin’s studies.

Sources Darwin, Charles. November 22, On the Origin of Species Dawkins, Richard The Blind Watchmaker