Charles Darwin is one of the greatest biologists in history known by most people. He was born February 12, 1809 into a wealthy family of 5 children in Shrewsbury, England, UK. His family had several scientists with his father being a medical doctor and his grandfather a renowned botanist. His mother died when he was only 8 years old and he began school at the age of 9 attending high school.
At the age of 16, October 1825, he has attended University of Edinburgh with his brother. Within the next 2 years, he had attended Christ’s College in Cambridge. He has crushed his father’s dreams when he did not follow his path to becoming a medical doctor. This was due to the fact that the sight of blood would make Darwin queasy. His father gave him the alternative to study parson but Darwin was interested in pursuing natural history.
After graduation from Christ’s college with a bachelor of arts in 1831, his botany professor Henslow suggested that he takes a naturalist’s position on HMS Beagle. On December 21, 1831, Darwin voyaged on the ship for 5 years around the world commanded by Captain Robert FitzRoy. He collected natural specimens in his writings which are still shown in many biological class till this date. He was particularly interested in the Pacific Islands, South America and Galapagos Archipelago.
His return to England was in 1835 where he first published his findings into Journal of Researches and later modified to Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle. The dominant belief at the time was of the naturalists which opposed Darwin’s findings that species act by natural selection for evolution. On November 24, 1859, Darwin published one the most known biology books till date, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
The 1800s emerged themes of Social Darwinism in which Darwin’s theories were used to explain the economic struggles in society. There was use of Darwin’s notes made in the wrong aspects by using his concepts such as “survival of the fittest” to explain economic driven urges, poverty and racism.
Charles Darwin passed away in London on April 19, 1882. He was one of the best evolutionists, naturalist and biologist known till date.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 