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Early Life
Charles Darwin, also known as Chuck, was born in Shrewsbury, England on February 12th, 1809. He had four older siblings and his mother died when he was eight years old. His father wanted him to go to school to study in the medical field because he was a doctor himself. He became a naturalist and would go on to make one of the most popular theories in science. Charles married in 1839 to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood.They would have ten children together. -
Trip Around the World
After graduating from Cambridge, Charles Darwin went on a 5 year long voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. The trips main focus was to survey the land along the coast to create a better map of South America and Charles was on board as a naturalist. He would collect samples at each port and send them back to England. The Galapagos are where he discovered finches and they became the focal point of his natural selection theory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfsUz2O2jww -
Theory of Natural Selection
From Charles Darwin's voyage on the HMS Beagle, he discovered the theory of natural selection. To publicly announce this theory he published the book titled, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life" in 1859. Natural selection is where "the fittest survive" and pass their traits better suited for survival by reproducing and evolving. -
Near the end
It took nearly 20 years for Charles Darwin to publish his book. He was very religious and at the time everyone believed religion to be the only explanation of creation. The theory of natural selection caused the belief that the Earth was created much older than what was originally thought to be only a few thousand years old. Of course, his theory wasn't perfect but it was a start and allowed questions to be answered for future research. Charles Darwin died at the age of seventy three in 1882.