Fascinating Life Of Charles Darwin

Life Of Charles Darwin

Life of Charles Darwin was tough, He was born on 12th February 1809, at Shrewsbury in England. He was the fifth child of a respectable family. His father was a doctor with growing wealth besides being very kind and caring to his children.

 

Childhood Life Of Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was born in 1809. Charles was the fifth of six children, born to well-known society doctor and financier, Robert Darwin, and wealthy Wedgwood family member Susannah Darwin.

He was named after his paternal grandfather and uncle, both called Charles.

Charles’s older brother Erasmus (Ras) stayed close to him throughout his life. His younger brothers were Francis and Henry; his sisters were Caroline, Susan (Sussy), Elizabeth (Bessy) and Catherine (Katty).

 

Middle Age Of Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin’s middle age can be characterized by two words: “The Origin of Species.” In 1859, Charles Darwin published his famous book, which introduced the theory of biological evolution.

The book was very controversial at the time because it challenged religious beliefs about the creation of life on earth. The world reacted with mixed emotions to this new theory, and Darwin spent the rest of his life making scientific arguments in favor of his theory.

The middle-aged Charles Darwin was popular, respected and rich. He had developed a reputation as a thoughtful, careful scientist and was the author of two best-selling books on geology. But he was still having nightmares about being chased by a large, bearded man with a knife.

 

Educational Life Of Charles Darwin

Charles’s grandfather Erasmus Darwin was a prominent physician and poet. His father, who followed in his father’s footsteps and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland, was an avid amateur naturalist who encouraged his son’s interest in nature.

In 1825, when Charles Darwin turned 16 years old, his parents sent him off to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to study medicine. His father had arranged for Charles to be apprenticed to one of his colleagues.

Unfortunately for Charles Darwin, he hated the sight of blood and became very sick from the smells present in the hospital where he worked. He quickly decided that medicine was not for him and stopped attending classes altogether.

After this failed attempt at becoming a doctor, Charles’ father sent him to study theology at Cambridge University with hopes of becoming a clergyman like his father and grandfather before him.

While studying at Cambridge University, Charles met some naturalists who shared his love for collecting specimens and studying nature. He became very interested in geology and joined an organization called the Plinian Society which focused on natural history studies.

 

Work Life Of Charles Darwin

Though Charles Darwin is mostly remembered for his contributions to evolutionary theory, he also made some important discoveries within geology.

Darwin’s first geological book was based on fieldwork he did on the volcanic Cape Verde islands off the coast of West Africa during the voyage of the Beagle.

He theorized that volcanic islands were built up from the ocean floor by successive layers of lava flows. To test this hypothesis, Darwin studied coral atolls in the Pacific.

His observations led him to conclude that atolls were built around a central volcano, which became an island, subsided into the sea and then eroded away, leaving a ring-shaped coral reef around an empty lagoon. This theory was confirmed by experimentation and modern observation.

 

Charles Darwin Theories

In 1831 he graduated from Cambridge with a bachelor of arts degree. While Darwin had been at Cambridge he had become friends with John Stevens Henslow, professor of botany, who recommended Darwin for an unpaid position on HMS Beagle as a gentleman companion to its captain, Robert FitzRoy.

The ship set sail in December 1831 and is best known for Darwin’s observations that led him to formulate his theory.

Darwin proposed that life on Earth evolved over millions of years through a process he called natural selection, which is the way in which plants and animals change to adapt to their environment.

Darwin believed that natural selection led to evolution, or gradual changes from one species to another over very long periods of time.

Although the term evolution wasn’t used until later, Darwin’s work showed how all living things are related and how organisms change over time.

He was greatly influenced by Thomas Malthus, who wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population in 1798, and by James Hutton, whose book The Theory of the Earth (1795) described geological processes over eons.

 

Charles Darwin achievements

Darwin’s great contribution was to show how evolution occurs: through random changes (called “mutations”) in living things that allow some of them to adapt better to their environment and therefore survive and reproduce more successfully than others.

These successful, or “fit,” organisms then pass on their helpful mutations to their offspring over generations. As a result, offspring become better adapted to their environment than less-fit organisms.

Charles Darwin father was a physician and his mother was the daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, founder of the famous pottery company.

In 1831 Darwin received an invitation from botanist Robert Brown to join a scientific expedition around the world on HMS Beagle as its naturalist.

The trip lasted five years and it changed forever Darwin’s view about the natural world. He studied animals, plants and fossils all over South America, Australia and Africa, including the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador where he made.

In addition to his contributions to evolutionary biology, Darwin’s studies also influenced other disciplines such as anthropology, psychology and philosophy.

In 1839 Darwin married Emma Wedgwood, a member of the family that founded the famous British pottery company Wedgwood China. The couple had 10 children together; three died in infancy and one at age 10.

 

Interesting Facts About Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin interesting facts:

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England. He went to medical school at Edinburgh University in Scotland but dropped out because he didn’t like seeing blood.

Darwin’s father sent him to Cambridge University to study for a career in the church. While there, Darwin met John Stevens Henslow who sparked his interest in botany and geology.

Darwin joined the voyage of the HMS Beagle as a naturalist and spent five years traveling the world and collecting specimens.

On that voyage, Darwin spent many hours studying finches on the Galapagos Islands which helped him develop the theory of evolution by natural selection.

 

Death Of Charles Darwin

On April 19, 1882,Died at the age of 73. He died in his home in Downe, Kent after a painful illness. In the last weeks of his life he suffered from heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and vomiting. When he was revived after one fainting fit, he told Emma “I am not the least afraid to die.”

Darwin had hoped to live long enough to see his new book The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms published. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The book was published posthumously in November 1881.*