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Charles Darwin Birth
Charles Robert Darwin is born at The Mount Shrewsberry United Kingdom. Darwin was the fifth child of Robert Warning Darwin who was a Physician and forty three years old at the time, and Susannah Wedgewood. Susannah died when Charles was only eight years old in 1817 when she started to grow ill. While after Susannah's death, Robert grew more intrigued with his work while leaving his eldest daughters Marianne and Caroline to take most of the responsibilities of the household. -
Charles Darwin early education
From 1818-1825 Charles Darwin attends Shrewsberry school and grows hateful towards attending describing his school as "narrow and classical." As Darwin is removed from school, he was believed to be unsuccessful and proceeds to spend his summer with his father on his doctor rounds. Continuing into that Autumn, Charles is sent to Edinburgh University with his brother Erasmus and studies medicine. -
Charles Darwin and Robert Grant
While in Edinburgh, Charles Darwin joins a natural history group called the Plinian Society. Around this time Darwin meets his most influential mentor at Edinburgh known as Robert Grant. Robert Grant was a marine biologist and Darwin assisted him in his studies of the marine life of the coastline close to Edinburgh. Soon after Charles wrote his first scientific paper on bryozoans and Grant described working with Darwin as an influence on his thinking. -
Charles Darwin attends Cambridge
Charles leaves Edinburgh without taking his degree. His father insists that Darwin studies at Cambridge. After spending some time there, Darwin enters Christ's College, Cambridge and attends his BA exam and surprisingly ranks 10th out of 178 candidates. Soon after he sets sail on the Beagle in 1831. Charles joined as the ships naturalist and on the voyage he collected various plants, animals, rocks, and fossils. After he returned, he came up with his theory of evolution by natural selection.