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Charles Darwin's Theory Of Natural Selection

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Charles Darwin followed the footsteps of his father and grandfather to study medicine at Edinburgh University at the age of 16 in October 1825. He wasn’t good at being a medic, because of the sight of blood made Charles Darwin queasy. Even though he didn’t have interest in medicine, Edinburgh was one of the best places in Britain to study science. It attracted free thinkers with radical opinions that would not have been tolerated in Oxford and Cambridge. Among other things, Darwin heard speakers talk about the latest theories of transmutation, as evolution was then known. Darwin found a new career in the Church at the age of 18, but he wasn’t too keen on this new direction. He went to study at Divinity at Cambridge to pursue his real passion: …show more content…

Darwin’s exposure to specimens all over the globe raised important questions. Other naturalists believed that all species either came into being at the start of the world or were created over the course of natural history. Darwin finally saw how transmutation happened. He saw that animals are more suited to their environment. The animals survive longer in their habitat and have their young. Evolution occurred by a process called “Natural Selection.” He decided to gather more evidence before going public. In the meantime, he made his name by publishing an account of his …show more content…

Darwin’s ideas were presented to Britain’s leading Natural History body, the Linnean Society. Even though Darwin agreed to extract his papers with Wallace to be presented at the same meeting, Darwin missed the public presentation of the Theory of Natural Selection since his son died at the age of 18 months. Darwin hastily began an abstract of Natural Selection which grew into a more accessible book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for life. As he finally published his new theory of evolution, it would become one of the most important books ever written. Darwin’s drew fierce criticism for his book from the Church. People were shaken that the book’s key implication that human beings were descended from apes even though Darwin only hinted at

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