Charles Darwin: Scandalous, Wealthy, And Revolutionary?

Have you ever wondered about why Charles Darwin was so important? Charles Darwin was an amazing scientist. Born February 12, 1809. He grew up in a small town in Shrewsbury, England with six other siblings. He was the second youngest. His father was a doctor and was hoping that he would do the same when he got older, but it wasn’t for him. So he was always a risk-taker because even though his dad would’ve been mad he still went for his own way studying nature. He went to Christ's college in Cambridge and graduated from there. Darwin was always interested in nature, so when he went on a voyage. This tells us about how Darwin was always been interested by nature.

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on February 12 in the year 1809. His parents were Susannah and Robert Darwin (BBC, 2015). While Darwin was growing up, he was encouraged by his father to stay in school and study in order to become a doctor. After two years of being enrolled in Edinburgh Medical School, Darwin decided that a medical career was not a part of his life interests (Zimmer, 2001). Disappointed, his father told him the only other thing he could do was become a priest. Darwin then began school in 1828 at Cambridge University, where he worked on serving the lord and becoming a priest. However, Darwin devoted more of his time to studying nature than reading his Bible (Zimmer, 2001). It was at Cambridge University that Darwin met someone who would be able to give him an opportunity that would change his life. John Henslow, Darwin’s future mentor, was a botany professor that Darwin grew fond of (BBC, 2015). Henslow recommended that Darwin travel the world on the Beagle, a ship that would forever change Darwin’s influence on science. Henslow recommended Darwin to the ship’s captain, and in December of 1831

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury England. He was the second youngest of six children. He was the son of Dr. R.W Darwin, and Susanna Darwin. He was a young boy what his mother died. When he was a little older he went to college to study medicine, but ended up becoming a biologist. When he was out of collage he stumbled across a job on the HMS Beagle. A relatively small ship, only 24 feet wide at its widest point. While on the HMS Beagle he visited the Galapagos, and while he was there he noticed a slight variation between each of the finches on each island. Darwin realized that the finches variations could be a result of Natural Selection witch is the theory that plants adapt to changes in there environment. At the time the church ruled an Darwin seemed to challenge there ideas, but

Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury on February 12, 1809. His father and grandfather, being admired and respected doctors, Charles grew up in a well-educated and freethinking family. At the age of eight, his mother died, leaving Charles and his five siblings with their stern and often overbearing father. A short time later, he was sent to boarding school in Shrewsbury to study Greek and Latin. Outside of class Charles collected beetles and conducted his own chemistry experiments, earning him the nickname “Gas” around school. Growing bored and indifferent towards his language studies, Charles’ motivation began to slip. His father, seeing his son’s mediocre academic scores, pulled him out of school and hired him as an assistant in his

However, his passion for natural science never swayed. It was this intricate fascination that brought Charles about meeting Professor John Stevens Henslow. Henslow was a specialist in botany. Overtime Henslow and Charles became quite close friends. In the article titled: “Charles Darwin: man behind monkey” author Christine Dao further explained the following events after the fact that Charles and Henslow became close friends. Henslow had the opportunity to accompany Captain Robert Fitzroy to the Americas as a naturalist. He extended this opportunity to the “novice” naturalists Charles. Dao’s article states, “Henslow proposed that Darwin take his place on the HMS Beagle journey to the Americas as an unpaid naturalist and gentleman companion to Captain Robert Fitzroy. Darwin was almost a complete novice, his experience based only on rudimentary geological studies, beetle-collecting, and the dissection of marine

Upon his return to London Darwin concluded thorough research of his notes and specimens many ideas. Out of this study grew several related theories: one, evolution did occur, two, evolutionary change was gradual, requiring thousands to millions of years, three, the primary mechanism for evolution was a process called natural selection, and four, the millions of species alive today arose from a single original life form through a branching process called "specialization."

He finally observed that overtime these birds developed different physical characteristics to help them be able to survive and adapt to their surroundings. Darwin developed the “Natural Selection” theory that stated that plants and animals adapt to their surroundings and environments in order to survive. He also stated that older generations of these species would eventually die out, because they do not have the newer characteristics that needed to be developed in order to live.

After the long five year voyage, Charles Darwin published his book, “The Voyage of the Beagle” in 1839 which showed his findings and observations while on the expedition. He would later publish a total of twenty-five books in his lifetime about the field of science. His ideas and theories were criticized by creationists who his ideas disproved and contradicted their belief of Creationism, or “the belief that the universe and the various forms of life were created by God out of nothing. It is a response to modern evolutionary theory, which explains the emergence and diversity of life without recourse to the doctrine of God or any other divine power” (Britannica.com 1). He would still, however, believe in his work until his death on April 19, 1882. By then, people have already accepted his ideas on evolution and natural selection, which would become to be known as

Throughout his university career, both at Edinburgh and at Cambridge, Darwin continued to receive offers to explore and go on expeditions with various mentors, colleagues, and teachers. On these trips, he collected marine animals from tidal pools (Darwin, p. 50), worked stuffing birds as an apprentice (Darwin, p. 51), and went on a voyage documenting fossils with Adam Sedgwick (Darwin, p. 70), among other excursions. He also developed an extensive collection of beetles and developed a system of capturing and documenting

He discover this on his five year journey around the world on the HMS Beagle which launched on December 27, 1831. On his journey around the world Darwin was most interested in the Pacific Island and South America. Charles Darwin returned home to England in 1836. He wrote many books over his journey explaining his theory. One of his books that he wrote was called “On the Origin of Species” which he published in 1859.

Early in both of their careers, Darwin and Owen were associates in aiding in each other’s research and had even attended the same university, but this cooperation would not last when in 1859, Darwin’s controversial manuscript was published. Owen was not convinced of his promising colleague’s theory or some now say that perhaps he was jealous. In fact, he was appalled by evolutions later implications of man being a mere relative of an ape. Because of Owen’s position as curator of the Natural History Museums and substantial scientist of his day, Owen’s ridicule had devastating consequences for Darwin. Charles Darwin became literally a joke among much of the scientific community causing his life for himself and his family to become difficult.

Darwin was a revolutionary because his theories and ideas were so different from other scientists of his time. Back then, most scientists’ theories were based on religion, but Darwin

His degree had nothing to do with biology, which at the time had some controversy over whether it was an actual science or not. He also had a strong interest in Natural History, which compelled him to take John Henslow’s class three times. He spent so much time learning all that he could from Henslow’s knowledgeable and profitable expertise that Darwin got the nickname, the man who walks with Henslow.” Darwin was not properly trained in science, but he did have more of an extensive background in life sciences (P2, pg,

Charles Darwin broached the theory of natural selection in his book the Origin of Species, which has been considered the basis of evolutionary biology to this day. Natural selection is when populations of a species evolve over the course of many generations. Darwin believed that species were not created separately, but instead, species were derived from one another. In other words, the evolution of species creates many variations among creatures, and this is because all of those species came from a common ancestor, and characteristics changed to increase the species chance of survival.

     After school Darwin became naturalist on board the royal navy ship the Beagle. The Beagle left England on December 27, 1831 this was a small ship with a crew of 74, Darwin had a small laboratory and a hammock to sleep on, he suffered bad seasickness. Darwin’s job aboard the Beagle allowed him to study on many different continents. He