Overview

    	Charles Robert Darwin (February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is now widely accepted and considered a foundational concept in science. In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin has been described as one of the most influential figures in human history, and he was honored by burial in Westminster Abbey.	Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. By the 1870s, the scientific community and a majority of the educated public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favored competing explanations which gave only a minor role to natural selection, and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.	Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridge (Christ's College) encouraged his passion for natural science. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle established him as an eminent geologist whose observations and theories supported Charles Lyell's conception of gradual geological change, and publication of his journal of the voyage made him famous as a popular author.	Puzzled by the geographical distribution of wildlife and fossils he collected on the voyage, Darwin began detailed investigations, and in 1838 conceived his theory of natural selection. Although he discussed his ideas with several naturalists, he needed time for extensive research and his geological work had priority. He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay that described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories. Darwin's work established evolutionary descent with modification as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in nature. In 1871 he examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872). His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Actions of Worms (1881), he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.  

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Brief Chronology

12th February 1809   Charles Darwin is born at The Mount, Shrewsbury, the fifth child of Robert Waring Darwin, physician, and Susannah Wedgwood.
1817   Darwin's mother dies; his 3 older sisters take on maternal responsibilities.
Darwin starts at Unitarian day school.
1818-1825   Darwin attends Shrewsbury School as a boarder. He hates the school, describing it as "narrow and classical".
1825   Darwin is removed from school, being deemed unsuccessful, and spends the summer accompanying his father on his doctor's rounds. That autumn, he is sent to Edinburgh University, with his brother Erasmus, to study medicine.
1826   Darwin joins the Plinian Society in Edinburgh.  It is around this time that Darwin meets his most influential mentor at Edinburgh, Robert Grant.
1827   Abhorred by medicine, Darwin leaves Edinburgh without taking a degree. Darwin's father, anxious that he does not become idle, insists that Darwin take up clerical studies in Cambridge.	
January 1828   After spending some time brushing up on his forgotten Greek, Darwin enters Christ's College, Cambridge.
January 1831   Darwin sits his BA exam, and is astonished to be ranked 10th out of 178 candidates.	
27th December 1831   Darwin finally sets sail on the Beagle.
29th October 1836   Darwin meets the geologist Lyell for the first time.
4th January 1837   Darwin reads his first scientific paper "Observations...on the coast of Chile" at the Geological Society in London.
May 1839   The Beagle journal is published under the title Journals and Remarks, volume three of Darwin's Narrative of the voyage.
May 1837   Darwin moves from Cambridge to 36, Great Marlborough Street, London.
March 1838   Darwin is elected to the Athenaeum...
1839   ...and then to the Royal Society...
1840   ...and then to the Council of the Royal Geographical Society.
January 1839   Darwin marries Emma Wedgwood, his first cousin. Their first child, William Erasmus, is born on December 27th.
1841   Structure and distribution of Coral Reefs is published.
1842   Darwin writes a thirty-five page sketch of evolutionary theory.
1842   Darwin and his young family move to Down House.
1843-4   Darwin write Volcanic Islands.
1844   Buoyed by Joseph Dalton Hooker’s response to his earlier drafts of evolutionary theory, Darwin finishes a 231 page manuscript.   In the same year, Robert Chambers publishes Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, a popularisation of evolution theory. This is not well received.
1846   Darwin finishes his last book describing the Beagle voyages: Geological Observations on South America.
1851   Darwin's eldest daughter Anne dies.  Darwin's first of two volumes on stalked barnacles is published. This overhauls the entire subclass of fossil and living Cirripedia.
1853   The Royal Society award Darwin their Royal Medal for his work on barnacles.
1854   Darwin is elected to the Royal Society's Philosophical Club, and to the Linnean Society.
1855   Darwin conducts experiments to prove that seeds, plants and animals could reach oceanic islands, where they might produce new species in geographic isolation.
April 1856   Darwin invites Huxley and other naturalists to a weekend party, where they discuss his ideas on the origin of species. After the meeting, he begins writing for publication, encouraged by Lyell, who feared that others might publish the same work before him.
1st July 1858   After correspondence with Wallace (who had come up with a semmingly identical theory), and advised by Hooker and Lyell, extracts from Darwin's work and a paper by Wallace are presented at the Linnean Society. This work is later published as "On the tendency of species to form varieties" in the Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society (Zoology). Events moved so fast, that Wallace is not notified of the joint presentation until afterwards, but responds courteously.
1859   Darwin now moves quickly. He writes a book, stripped of academic references and aimed at the reading public, called On the Origin of Species. The 1250 print run of 1859 is oversubscribed, and Darwin starts corrections for a second edition.   The book’s cause is championed by Huxley, who is confrontational, and somewhat polarised the debate. Darwin backs him nonetheless, excusing himself from combat because of illness.
1864   Darwin is awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society (after being nominated three years running). This is the source of much debate; the Origin of Species was omitted from the award.
1866   Darwinism begins to dominate the views of the British Association, as Darwin’s chief scientific supporters, Hooker and Huxley, are presidents.
1868   The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication is published.
1871   The Descent of Man is published, and the Origin is extensively re-written to answer arguments by Mivart. This sixth and last edition uses the word 'evolution' for the first time.
1872   Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals completes great cycle of evolutionary writings.
1877   Cambridge bestows Darwin with an honorary doctorate of law.
10th April 1882   After a heart attack on Christmas, followed by seizures, Charles Darwin dies, in great suffering, at Down House. He is later buried in Westminster Abbey.

The Evolution of Charles Darwin

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