Charles Darwin (1809-1822)

gives distinction to the theory of evolution. His idea was that the change of varieties and the origin gets realized by natural selection: only the fittest will survive because of struggling for life. His work influences biology and geology not only in the past. Even today the term "Darwinism" is used to explain how evolution works.

The naturalist Charles Robert Darwin was born at February the 12th 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. He was born into a 'science family' as the fourth of six children. His father, Dr. R.W. Darwin has been a medical doctor and his grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin has been a renowned botanist. After Darwin's eighth birthday, Darwin had to live without his mother Susanna because she died then. Nevertheless, Darwin grew up in a prosperous family and enjoyed some privileges. Even as a child, Darwin loved it to explore nature.

 

October 1825, when Darwin was 16 years old, he enrolled at the university of Edinburgh to study there together with his brother Erasmus. Two years later, Darwin became a student of the Christ's College in Cambridge. His father were hoping that the young Darwin will step one day in his footprints in becoming a doctor bur Charles was not able to see blood. Charles Darwin also refused also the second idea of his father to become a pastor but Darwin decided to start studying natural history.

The botanic professor John Steven Henslow became Darwin's mentor at the Christ's College. After his Bachelor degree in 1838, Darwin got recommended by his mentor for a naturalist's position abroad: The HMS Beagle. The ship of the captain who has been Robert Fitzroy planned a circumnavigation (of the globe) which should take five years. This experience would be a great challenge to road-test the prospective naturalist. On the 27th of December 1831 the ship started his trip with Darwin on board. Meanwhile this excursion, Charles Darwin collected some fossils, plants and birds. His experiments there, gave him the unique possibility to do detailed research on the botanic, the geography and the zoology. Especially the galapagos and the pacific island caught the most of Darwin's interest.

After his trip, when they arrived back in England (1836), Darwin wrote down all his discoveries for the "Journal of Researches" which published his discoveries. Later, the Captain's narratives and Darwin's writings were published in the zoology of the beagle. This experience had a great impact on Charles' view concerning the natural history. He began to create a new revolutionary theory about the origin of living beings that has been very differently comparing to the other theories existing at (t)his time.

Darwin's exposure opened a lot of important questions spread all of the world. Some other naturalists believed that all of the species were created as they are or they were created as new species during the process of natural science. In both cases, one was sure that the species were constant and unchangeable anyway. Darwin has observed a lot of different species when he was on his trip round the world and he has figured out that these species have an common origin, they were just changing because of their habitat. But compared with the majority, Darwin was the first one who recocognised that all the species have the same origin. Darwin calls this discovery "natural selection". Additionally, this is the reason why the species are still alive: because the adapted perfectly to their changing environment. The other one's who died, they were not adapted very well... This process is called "struggle for life" and in the end "survival of the fittest".

In 1858, Darwin prepared his theory in a letter which was read at a meeting in front of the linnean society. One year later, the 24th of December 1859, Darwin published a detailed explanation of his theory which his known as his most popular work: "On the origin of the species by means of natural selection".

Charles Darwin dies in London, in the house of his family (down house) on the 19th of April 1882.

Due to some studies with the DNA, Darwin's theory got confirmed a few centuries after his death. Although there are some discrepancies with the creationism until today because the churches adopt a different attitude: For them is god the creator of all the species and the natural selection does not exist.