Timeline: Charles Darwin

Feb 12, 1808

Birth of Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin was born February 12, 1809
Son of Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood-Darwin
He was the fifth of six children.

Mar 30, 1822

Darwin attends Shrewsbury boarding school.

Darwin attends boarding school until the age of 16 at which time he father wanted him to attend medical school.

1827

Darwin drops out of medical school

While attending Edinburgh University, he becomes repulsed by the horrific standards of early 19th century surgery.

1827

Darwin attends Christ college

After dropping out of medical school Charles Darwin enrolls atChrist College in Cambridge to studyTheology.

1831

Charles Darwin makes a friend

During his studies at Christ College he befriends a professor by the name of John Stevens Henslow who informs him that Captain Fitzroy of the HMS Beagle is in need of a Naturalist. Darwin agrees.

1831

The HMS Beagle

Darwin begins his five year voyage on the HMS Beagle

1835

From minster to the churches biggest opponent.

While on his voyage Darwin reads Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology. While reading he learns that it undermines Genesis and it gave him a timeline that he uses to reach the idea that life evolved slowly of time. During this time he was a minister for the Church of England and afterwards became one of it's biggest opponent.

1836

Darwin returns to England and begins work on his book The origin of Species.

When his voyage on the Beagle was over Darwin returns home and marries his cousin (Eww) and together that had ten children (And people make fun of us Kentuckians). Over the twenty years he works on his theory and his book and was actually not going to publish it until another naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace developed ideas that were in line with his own and that gave him that motivation to publish his book.

1859

His book is published

Darwin publishes The Origin of Species in 1859.
In this book he argues that the evolution of the species is through natural selection which is where a species that is better suited to adapt to their environment survive and those that cannot adapt eventually die out.