BIOGRAPHY:

Charles Roobert Darwin – naturalist, pioneer of the theory of the origin of life on Earth from a common ancestor, through the evolution of each species. Author of the book “The Origin of Species”, a theory about the origin of man, the concepts of natural and sexual selection, the first ethological study “The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals”, a theory about the causes of evolution.

Childhood:

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shropshire (England) on the Darwin estate Mount House, in Shrewsbury. Robert Darwin, the boy’s father, doctor and financier, son of the scientist naturalist Erasmus Darwin. Mother Suzanne Darwin, nee Wedgwood, daughter of the artist Josiah Wedgwood. There were six children in the Darwin family. The family attended the Unitarian Church, but Charles’s mother was a member of the Church of England before her marriage.

In 1817, Charles was sent to school. Eight-year-old Darwin became acquainted with natural history and took his first steps in collecting. In the summer of 1817, the boy’s mother died. The father sent his sons Charles and Erasmus in 1818 to a boarding school at the Anglican Church – Shrewsbury School.

Charles did not make progress in his studies. Languages ​​and literature were difficult. The boy’s main passion is collecting and hunting. The moral teachings of his father and teachers did not force Charles to come to his senses, and ultimately they gave up on him. Later, young Darwin developed another hobby – chemistry, for which Darwin was even reprimanded by the head of the gymnasium. Charles Darwin graduated from high school with far from brilliant results.

After graduating from high school in 1825, Charles and his brother Erasmus entered the University of Edinburgh, Faculty of Medicine. Before entering, the young man worked as an assistant in his father’s medical practice.

Darwin studied at the University of Edinburgh for two years. During this time, the future scientist realized that medicine was not his calling. The student stopped going to lectures and became interested in making stuffed animals. Charles’ teacher in this matter was the freed slave John Edmonstone, who traveled through the Amazon in the group of naturalist Charles Waterton.

First Discovery:

Darwin made his first discoveries in the field of anatomy of marine invertebrates. The young scientist presented his work in March 1827 at a meeting of the Plinian Student Society, of which he had been a member since 1826. It was in this same society that young Darwin became acquainted with materialism. During this time he worked as an assistant to Robert Edmond Grant. He attended Robert Jameson’s natural history course, where he gained basic knowledge in geology, and worked with collections belonging to the Museum of the University of Edinburgh.

The news about his son’s neglected studies did not delight Darwin Sr. Realizing that Charles would not become a doctor, Robert Darwin insisted that his son enter Christ’s College, Cambridge University. Although visits to the Plinian Society greatly shook Darwin’s faith in the dogmas of the church, he did not resist his father’s will and in 1828 passed the entrance exams to Cambridge.

Studying at Cambridge did not interest Darwin too much. The student’s time was occupied by hunting and horse riding. A new hobby appeared – entomology. Charles entered the circle of insect collectors. The future scientist became friends with Cambridge professor John Stevens Henslow, who opened the door to the student into the wonderful world of botany. Henslow introduced Darwin to the leading naturalists of the time.

With his final exams approaching, Darwin began to push through the material he had missed in his core subjects. Took 10th place based on graduation exam results.

Trips:

After graduating in 1831, Charles Darwin remained in Cambridge for some time. He spent time studying the works of William Paley’s Natural Theology and Alexander von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative. These books gave Darwin the idea of ​​traveling to the tropics to study natural sciences in practice. To implement the idea of ​​the trip, Charles took a geology course from Adam Sedgwick, and then went with the reverend to North Wales to map the rocks.

Upon his arrival from Wales, Darwin received a letter from Professor Henslow with a recommendation to the captain of the expeditionary ship of the English Royal Navy, the Beagle, Robert Fitzroy. The ship at that time was setting off on a voyage to South America, and Darwin could take the place of a naturalist on the crew. True, the position was not paid. Charles’s father categorically objected to the trip, and only a word in favor of Charles’s uncle, Josiah Wedgwood II, saved the situation. The young naturalist went on a trip around the world.

The journey began in 1831 and ended on October 2, 1836. The crew of the Beagle carried out cartographic surveys of the coasts. Darwin at this time was busy on the shore collecting exhibits for a collection of natural history and geology. He kept a full account of his observations. At every opportunity, the naturalist sent copies of his notes to Cambridge. During his voyage, Darwin collected an extensive collection of animals, a large proportion of which were marine invertebrates. Described the geological structure of a number of coasts.

Near the Cape Verde Islands, Darwin made a discovery about the influence of time on geological changes, which he used in writing works on geology in the future.

In Patagonia, he discovered the fossilized remains of an ancient mammal called Megatherium. The presence of modern mollusk shells next to it in the rock indicated the recent extinction of the species. The discovery aroused interest in scientific circles in England.

The study of the stepped plains of Patagonia, revealing the ancient strata of the Earth, led Darwin to the conclusion that the statements in Lyell’s work “on the persistence and extinction of species” were incorrect.

Off the coast of Chile, the Beagle crew encountered an earthquake. Charles saw the Earth’s crust rising above sea level. In the Andes, he found shells of marine invertebrates, which led the scientist to guess about the emergence of barrier reefs and atolls as a result of the tectonic movement of the earth’s crust.

On the Galapagos Islands, Darwin noticed differences between local animal species from mainland relatives and representatives of neighboring islands. The objects of the study were Galapagos tortoises and mockingbirds.

In Australia, the strange marsupials and platypuses seen were so different from the fauna of other continents that Darwin seriously thought about another “creator”.

With the Beagle team, Charles Darwin visited the Cocos Islands, Cape Verde, Tenerife, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Tierra del Fuego. Based on the results of the information collected, the scientist created the works “Diary of a Naturalist’s Research” (1839), “Zoology of the Voyage on the Beagle” (1840), “Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs” (1842). He described an interesting natural phenomenon – penitentes (special ice crystals on the glaciers of the Andes).

After returning from his trip, Darwin began collecting evidence for his theory of species change. Living in a deeply religious environment, the scientist understood that with his theory he was undermining the accepted dogmas of the existing world order. He believed in God as a supreme being, but was completely disillusioned with Christianity. His final departure from the church occurred after the death of his daughter Ann in 1851. Darwin did not stop helping the church and providing support to parishioners, but when his family attended church services, he went for a walk. Darwin called himself an agnostic.

In 1838, Charles Darwin became secretary of the Geological Society of London. He held this post until 1841.

Doctrine of descent:

In 1837, Charles Darwin began keeping a diary classifying plant varieties and breeds of domestic animals. In it he entered his thoughts on natural selection. The first notes on the origin of species appeared in 1842.

“The Origin of Species” is a chain of arguments supporting the theory of evolution. The essence of the doctrine is the gradual development of populations of species through natural selection. The principles set forth in the work were called “Darwinism” in the scientific community.

In 1856, preparation of an expanded version of the book began. In 1859, 1,250 copies of the work “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Breeds in the Struggle for Life” were published. The book sold out in two days. During Darwin’s lifetime, the book was published in Dutch, Russian, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Polish, Hungarian, Spanish and Serbian. Darwin’s works are being republished and are still popular today. The natural scientist’s theory is still relevant and is the basis of the modern theory of evolution.

Another important work of Darwin is “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection.” In it, the scientist developed a theory about the common ancestor of humans and modern apes. The scientist conducted a comparative anatomical analysis, compared embryological data, on the basis of which he showed the similarity of humans and monkeys (simial theory of anthropogenesis).

In his book On the Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin described man as part of an evolutionary chain. Man, as a living organism, developed from a lower animal form.

Personal life:

Charles Darwin married in 1839. He took marriage seriously. Before making a decision, I wrote down all the pros and cons on a piece of paper. After the verdict “Marry-Marry-Marry”, on November 11, 1838, he proposed to his cousin Emma Wedgwood. Emma is the daughter of Josiah Wedgwood II, uncle of Charles, Member of Parliament and owner of a porcelain factory. At the time of the wedding, the bride turned 30 years old. Before Charles, Emma rejected marriage proposals. The girl corresponded with Darwin during his travels to South America. Emma is an educated girl. She wrote sermons for a rural school and studied music in Paris with Frederic Chopin.

The wedding took place on January 29. The wedding in the Church of England was performed by the brother of the bride and groom, John Allen Wedgwood. The newlyweds settled in London. On 17 September 1842 the family moved to Down, Kent.

Emma and Charles had ten children. Children have reached a high position in society. Sons George, Francis and Horace were members of the Royal Society of England.

Three babies died. Darwin associated the sickness of children with the kinship between himself and Emma (work “Sickness of descendants from inbreeding and the advantages of distant crossbreeding”).

Death:

Charles Darwin died at the age of 73 on April 19, 1882. Buried in Westminster Abbey.

After her husband’s death, Emma bought a house in Cambridge. Sons Francis and Horace built houses nearby. The widow lived in Cambridge during the winter. For the summer she moved to the family estate in Kent. She died on October 7, 1896. She was buried in Down, next to Darwin’s brother Erasmus.

Interesting Facts:

• Charles Darwin was born on the same day as Abraham Lincoln.
• In the photo, Darwin looks like Leo Tolstoy.
• “On the Origin of Species” began to be called that only by the sixth reprint.
• Darwin also learned about new species of animals from a gastronomic point of view: he tasted dishes made from armadillos, ostriches, agouti, and iguanas.
• Many rare species of animals are named in honor of the scientist.
• Darwin never renounced his beliefs: until the end of his days, living in a deeply religious family, he was a doubtful person regarding religion.
• The Beagle’s journey lasted five years instead of two.