Charles Darwin
February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882
English naturalist whose 1859 book On the Origin of Species set out the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Biography
Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury in 1809 and studied medicine at Edinburgh and theology at Cambridge, but his real interest was natural history. From 1831 to 1836 he sailed around the world as naturalist on HMS Beagle, collecting fossils and specimens in South America, the Galápagos Islands and elsewhere.
Back in England, he spent two decades developing the theory that species change over time through natural selection. When Alfred Russel Wallace reached the same idea, their papers were presented together in 1858, and Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859.
The book caused fierce debate with religious and scientific critics but was widely accepted within his lifetime. His later works included The Descent of Man (1871), which applied evolution to humans. He died in 1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Affiliations
Education
- from Oct 1, 1825 University of Edinburgh
- from Jan 1, 1828 University of Cambridge
- University of Edinburgh Medical School
- Christ's College, Cambridge
