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Charles Darwin was born to a upper-middle class family in England. His father, a physician, influenced Charles to enroll at Edinburgh to follow in his footsteps. However Darwin rebelled, and instead focused on Natural History. His family however, decided for him to be an Anglican clergyman. To pursue this, he was enrolled at Cambridge university, where he befriended several professors who were taking an interest in different fields of science (Ruse 4).
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Through his connections at Cambridge, Darwin was able to join the crew of the HMS Beagle, Where he soon graduated from the captain's companion to the ships naturalist. During the five year journey, Darwin would circumnavigate South American and the Galapagos, making detailed observations and discovering the basis of his renowned theory of evolution and natural selection(8).
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During this stretch of time, Darwin would put the theory he his known for most on a backburner. Instead, he would establish himself as one of Britain's top naturalist's, publishing half a dozen books and develop an obsession with studying barnacles, with which his painstakingly detailed account would earn him prestige and a reputation as being dependable and knowledgeable, becoming known as a systematist who presented verifiable data in his research(McClellan 333).
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Darwin releases his theory on this date, going into immense detail about every sliver of evidence he procured during his voyage and the years following his return, into an argument that became an instant bestseller. The immediate success of his work would cause a great shift, making most of the worlds perspective of life change from the biblical account, to a more logical, naturalistic basis(McClellan 336). -
The man who changed the field of biology, which in turn threatened the Victorian social structure at the time, dies on this date. One of the most recognizable scientists in history, was never given the prefix "Sir" but was laid to rest besides Isaac Newton and the rest of Britain's greats at Westminster Abbey(McClellan 338). -