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Birth of a scientific revolutionary
Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury England Desmond, Adrian J. "Charles Darwin." Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1 Nov. 2019, www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Darwin -
Meeting his mentor
In 1826 Charles Darwin took a walking tour in North Wales. That winter he met Dr Robert Grant who was a naturalist and Lamarckin. He specialized in studying marine animals and took Darwin under his wing and included him in with his research the following years. Together they "proposed that sponges lay close to the root of the animal kingdom. For Grant, the sponge was the “parent” of higher animals." (Nelson) -
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Voyage of a lifetime
Darwin set sail on the HMS Beagle on December 27, 1831 from Plymouth Sound and travelled all over the world travelling from island to island covering biology, geology and anthropology. Darwin took notes all along the journey and he first mentions his changing views on the fixity of species. These notes later on led to him forming the idea of evolution by natural selection. -
Land Ho!
Charles Darwin landed upon the Galapagos Islands, specifically San Cristobal on September 16, 1835. He then explored the other islands of the archipelago from September 16 to October 20, then from November 15 to 26 in Tahiti, then November 21 to 30 in New Zealand. All the while studying the different kinds of species and sub-species while there. -
Putting it all together
On November 24, 1859 Darwin published his book, "On the Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the preservation of Favored races in the Struggle for Life." In this novel Darwin introduced the idea of natural selection. His most famous idea was that of all life having a common ancestor, "It is a truly wonderful fact-the wonder of which we are apt to overlook from familiarity-that all animals and all plants throughout all time and space should be related to each other." (Darwin) -
Death of a scientific icon
Charles Darwin died on April 19, 1882 at the age of seventy-three and was buried in Westminister Abbey. Darwin set the foundation for modern day biology and anthropology.
