-
Born in Shrewsberry England to Robert and Susannah Darwin.
(Desmond) -
A surveying voyage of South America that lasted 5 years that was formative for Darwin. It was on this journey that he started making observations of similar species having different traits at different locations. He also collected many fossils on this journey and noticed similarities of these fossils to current living animals. Leading him to believe that this was of no coincidence (Charles Darwin Biography).
-
Over the course of two years Darwin wrote the beginnings of his works on evolution. He refused to publish anything due to the severe criticism that was directed at scientists and philosophers of similar works. He decided to bide his time and perform more experiments until he saw fit to join the debate(Desmond).
-
Darwin published On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection at this time saying the idea that parents with certain traits survive and pass on these traits to their offspring. Darwin received much criticism for his works and published 5 further works to continue to prove his theory but some say his further works showed him as unsure and they were eventually used to try and discount him(Charles Darwin Biography).
Darwinism Video -
The second installment of his Origins publications he stated that men and apes have a common ancestor. He intended for this to be further proof of his theories, but for this he was commonly criticized and drawn as a half man/ape hybrid in many cartoons (Darwin timeline).
-
Upon his death was awarded the honor of being buried in Westminster Abbey (Charles Darwin Biography).