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Charles Darwin

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Human Scientists

   CAPTION: Charles Robert Darwin

   Darwin in 1854, an eminent geologist and biologist privately developing
   his theory of evolution.
   Darwin in 1854, an eminent geologist and biologist privately developing
   his theory of evolution.
   Born 12 February 1809
   Mount House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
   Died 19 April 1882
   Down House, Kent, England
   Residence England
   Nationality British
   Field Naturalist
   Alma Mater University of Edinburgh
   University of Cambridge
   Known for The Origin of Species
   Notable Prizes Royal Medal (1853)
   Wollaston Medal (1859)
   Copley Medal (1864)
   Religion Church of England, though Unitarian family background,
   Agnostic after 1851.

   Charles Robert Darwin FRS ( 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was a
   British naturalist who achieved lasting fame by producing considerable
   evidence that species originated through evolutionary change, at the
   same time proposing the scientific theory that natural selection is the
   mechanism by which such change occurs. This theory is now considered a
   cornerstone of biology, and has significantly affected other
   disciplines such as philosophy, psychology and anthropology.

   Darwin developed his interest in natural history while studying first
   medicine, then theology, at university. His five-year voyage on the
   Beagle brought him eminence as a geologist whose work supported Charles
   Lyell's uniformitarian theory of geology, and fame as a popular author.
   The wildlife distribution he saw on the voyage led him to investigate
   the transmutation of species and in 1838 he conceived his theory of
   natural selection. He had seen others attacked for such " heretical"
   ideas and confided only in his closest friends while carrying out
   extensive research so that anticipated objections were fully covered.
   However, Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay describing a similar
   theory in 1858, forcing early joint publication of the theory.

   His 1859 book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,
   or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (usually
   abbreviated to The Origin of Species) established evolution by common
   descent as the dominant scientific explanation of diversification in
   nature. He continued his research and wrote a series of books on plants
   and animals, including humankind, notably The Descent of Man, and
   Selection in Relation to Sex and The Expression of the Emotions in Man
   and Animals.

   In recognition of Darwin's pre-eminence, he was buried in Westminster
   Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.

Life

Early life

   The seven-year-old Charles Darwin in 1816, one year before the sudden
   loss of his mother.
   Enlarge
   The seven-year-old Charles Darwin in 1816, one year before the sudden
   loss of his mother.

   Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12
   February 1809 at The Mount, the house his father built in 1800 on the
   River Severn. He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society
   doctor Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood). He was the
   grandson of Erasmus Darwin on his father's side, and of Josiah Wedgwood
   on his mother's side. (Charles later forged another Darwin-Wedgwood
   link by marrying his Cousin Emma Wedgwood, and his sister also married
   into the Wedgwoods: see Darwin — Wedgwood family). Both families were
   largely Unitarian, and Robert Darwin was practically a Freethinker but
   for appearances sake adopted the conventional Anglicanism of his
   clients. Charles was taken to the Unitarian chapel by his mother, and
   early in 1817 he joined the day school run by its preacher. In July of
   that year his mother died when he was still only eight. In September
   1818, when he was nine, he entered the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury
   School as a boarder.

   In 1825, Darwin spent the summer as an apprentice doctor, helping his
   father treat the poor of Shropshire. In the autumn of that year, Darwin
   went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine. However, his
   revulsion at the brutality of surgery led him to neglect his medical
   studies. He learned taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a freed black slave
   who told him exciting tales of the South American rainforest. (He would
   later, in The Descent of Man, use his experience with Edmonstone as
   evidence that "Negroes and Europeans" were still very closely related
   despite looking superficially very different from one another.) In
   Darwin's second year he joined the Plinian Society, a student group
   interested in natural history. He became an avid pupil of Robert Edmund
   Grant, a proponent of evolution by acquired characteristics as proposed
   by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles' grandfather Erasmus. Darwin took
   part in Grant's investigations of the life cycle of marine animals on
   the shores of the Firth of Forth which found evidence for homology, the
   radical theory that all animals have similar organs, differing only in
   complexity, showing common descent. In March 1827, Darwin made a
   presentation to the Plinian of his own discovery that the black spores
   often found in oyster shells were the eggs of a skate leech. He also
   sat in on Robert Jameson's natural history course, learning about
   stratigraphic geology, receiving training in how to classify plants,
   and assisting with work on the extensive collections of the Museum of
   Edinburgh University, one of the largest museums in Europe at the
   time.{{{author}}}, {{{title}}}, [[{{{publisher}}}]], [[{{{date}}}]].

   In 1827, his father, unhappy that his younger son had no interest in
   becoming a physician, shrewdly enrolled him in a Bachelor of Arts
   course at Christ's College, University of Cambridge to qualify as a
   clergyman. This was a sensible career move at a time when many Anglican
   parsons were provided with a comfortable income, and most naturalists
   in England were clergymen who saw it as part of their duties to explore
   the wonders of God's creation. However, Darwin preferred riding and
   shooting to studying. Along with his cousin William Darwin Fox, he
   became engrossed in the craze at the time for the competitive
   collecting of beetles, and Fox introduced him to the Reverend John
   Stevens Henslow, professor of botany, for expert advice on beetles.
   Darwin subsequently joined Henslow's natural history course and became
   his favourite pupil, known to the dons as "the man who walks with
   Henslow". When exams began to loom, Darwin focused more on his studies
   and received private instruction from Henslow. Darwin became
   particularly enthused by the writings of William Paley, including the
   argument of divine design in nature. In his finals in January 1831, he
   performed well in theology and, having scraped through in classics,
   mathematics and physics, came tenth out of a pass list of 178.

   Residential requirements kept Darwin at Cambridge until June. In
   keeping with Henslow's example and advice, he was in no rush to take
   holy orders. Inspired by Alexander von Humboldt's Personal Narrative,
   he planned to visit the Madeira Islands to study natural history in the
   tropics with some classmates after graduation. To prepare himself for
   this project, Darwin joined the geology course of the Reverend Adam
   Sedgwick, a strong proponent of divine design, then, in the summer,
   went with him to assist in mapping strata in Wales. He returned home to
   find a letter from Henslow who had recommended Darwin as a suitable (if
   unfinished) naturalist for the unpaid position of gentleman's companion
   to Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle which was to leave in four
   weeks on a two-year expedition to chart the coastline of South America.
   His father objected to the voyage, regarding it as a waste of time, but
   was persuaded by his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood, to agree to his
   son's participation. This voyage became a five-year expedition that
   would lead to dramatic changes in many fields of science.

Journey on the Beagle

   As HMS Beagle surveyed the coasts of South America, Darwin began to
   theorise about the wonders of nature around him.
   Enlarge
   As HMS Beagle surveyed the coasts of South America, Darwin began to
   theorise about the wonders of nature around him.

   The Beagle survey took five years, two-thirds of which Darwin spent
   exploring on land. He studied a rich variety of geological features,
   fossils and living organisms, and met a wide range of people, both
   native and colonial. He methodically collected an enormous number of
   specimens, many of them new to science. This established his reputation
   as a naturalist and made him one of the precursors of the field of
   ecology, particularly the notion of biocoenosis. His extensive detailed
   notes showed his gift for theorising and formed the basis for his later
   work, as well as providing social, political and anthropological
   insights into the areas he visited.

   Before they set out, FitzRoy gave Darwin volume one of Charles Lyell's
   Principles of Geology, which explained landforms as the outcome of
   gradual processes over huge periods of time. On their first stop ashore
   at St Jago Darwin found rock formations which, seen this way, gave him
   a revolutionary insight into the geological history of the island,
   inspiring him to think of writing a book on the subject. Subsequently
   he saw stepped plains of shingle and seashells in Patagonia as raised
   beaches, experienced an earthquake in Chile, noted mussel-beds stranded
   above high tide showing that the land had been raised, and ,even high
   in the Andes, found himself able to collect seashells. He theorised
   that coral atolls form on sinking volcanic mountains, and confirmed
   this when the Beagle surveyed the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.

   In South America Darwin found and excavated rare fossils of gigantic
   extinct mammals, some in strata which showed no signs of catastrophe or
   change in climate, including a huge skull he thought was related to the
   African rhinoceros. At first he thought that fragments of bony armour
   came from a gigantic armadillo like the small creatures common in the
   area, but was then misled by a text into thinking they belonged to the
   megatherium fossils he found nearby. He was sent Lyell's second volume
   which decried evolutionism and explained species distribution by
   "centres of creation", but still puzzled over all he saw. He sometimes
   seemed close to his later ideas.

   In Argentina he found that two species of rhea had separate but
   overlapping territories, and the mockingbirds^ he collected on the
   Galápagos Islands differed from one island to another. When organising
   his notes on the return journey, Darwin wrote that if his suspicions
   were correct, "such facts undermine the stability of Species" before
   cautiously adding "would" before "undermine". He found the Australian
   marsupial rat-kangaroo and platypus such strikingly unusual animals
   that it was almost as though two distinct Creators had been at work.
   After the voyage Richard Owen showed that the armour fragments were
   from the glyptodon, a huge extinct armadillo, and other remains were of
   animals related to living creatures in the same area. Darwin^ then
   found that Galápagos tortoises and finches formed distinct species
   unique to the individual islands they inhabited.
   The voyage of the Beagle
   Enlarge
   The voyage of the Beagle

   Three native missionaries were returned by the Beagle to Tierra del
   Fuego. They had become "civilised" in England over the previous two
   years, yet their relatives appeared to Darwin to be "miserable,
   degraded savages". Within a year, the missionaries had reverted to
   their harsh previous way of life, yet they said they preferred this and
   did not want to return to England. This experience, his detestation of
   the slavery he saw elsewhere in South America, and other problems he
   discovered such as the effect of European settlement on aborigines in
   New Zealand and Australia, persuaded him that there was no moral
   justification for the mistreating of others based on the concept of
   race. He now thought that humanity was not as far removed from animals
   as his clerical friends believed.

   While on board the ship, Darwin frequently suffered from seasickness.
   In October 1833 he caught a fever in Argentina, and in July 1834, while
   returning from the Andes down to Valparaíso, he fell ill and spent a
   month in bed. From 1837 onwards Darwin was repeatedly incapacitated
   with episodes of stomach pains, vomiting, severe boils, palpitations,
   trembling and other symptoms, particularly during times of stress, such
   as when attending meetings or dealing with controversy over his theory.
   The cause of this illness was unknown during his lifetime and attempts
   at treatment had little success; however, Recent speculation has
   suggested he caught Chagas disease from insect bites in South America.
   Other possible causes include psychobiological problems and Ménière's
   disease.

Growing reputation and inception of theory

   While still a young man, Charles Darwin joined the scientific élite.
   Enlarge
   While still a young man, Charles Darwin joined the scientific élite.

   While Darwin was still on the voyage, Henslow carefully fostered his
   former pupil's reputation by giving selected naturalists access to the
   fossil specimens and printed copies of Darwin's geological writings.
   When the Beagle returned on 2 October 1836, Darwin was a celebrity in
   scientific circles. He visited his home in Shrewsbury and his father
   organised investments so that Darwin could become a self-funded
   gentleman scientist. Darwin then went to Cambridge and persuaded
   Henslow to work on botanical descriptions of modern plants he had
   collected. Afterwards Darwin went round the London institutions to find
   the best naturalists available. He described his other collections to
   them, and persuaded them to help with timely publication. {{{author}}},
   {{{title}}}, [[{{{publisher}}}]], [[{{{date}}}]].

   An eager Charles Lyell met Darwin on 29 October and introduced him to
   the up-and-coming anatomist Richard Owen. After working on Darwin's
   collection of fossil bones at the Royal College of Surgeons, Owen
   caused great surprise by revealing that some were from gigantic extinct
   rodents and sloths.{{{author}}}, {{{title}}}, [[{{{publisher}}}]],
   [[{{{date}}}]]. This enhanced Darwin's reputation. With Lyell's
   enthusiastic backing, Darwin read his first paper to the Geological
   Society of London on 4 January 1837, arguing that the South American
   landmass was slowly rising, and presented his mammal and bird specimens
   to the Zoological Society. The Mammalia were taken on by George R.
   Waterhouse. Though the birds had seemed almost an afterthought,
   ornithologist John Gould revealed that the specimins from the Galapagos
   that Darwin had presumed to be a mixture of wrens, blackbirds and
   finches, were, in fact, all finches, each a separate species. Darwin
   had not kept track of which island his specimens were from, but others
   on the Beagle, including FitzRoy, had also collected them and had been
   more careful with their notes, and Darwin was able to work out their
   geographic distribution.

   On 17 February 1837 Lyell used his presidential address at the
   Geographical Society to present Owen's findings on Darwin's fossils,
   stressing that extinct species were related to current species in the
   same localities in accordance with his ideas of "Centres of Creation".
   At the same meeting Darwin was elected to the Council of the Society.

   In London, Darwin stayed with his freethinking brother, Erasmus, and at
   dinner parties met inspiring savants who thought that God preordained
   life by natural laws rather than ad hoc miraculous creations. His
   brother's lady friend, Miss Harriet Martineau, was a writer whose
   stories promoted Malthusian Whig Poor Law reforms. Scientific circles
   were buzzing with ideas of transmutation of species controversially
   associated with Radical unrest. Darwin was a Whig but no political
   radical, and his sympathies were with the scientific establishment of
   his friends the Cambridge Dons. However, his observations of nature
   were pushing him beyond their sincere belief that Creation of species
   was true and necessary to justify religion and social order.

   In private, Darwin was speculating on transmutation in his "Red
   Notebook" which he had begun on the Beagle. In mid-July he began his
   secret "B" notebook on transmutation, with reference to his earlier
   observation that every island in the Galápagos had its own different
   kind of tortoise. He developed the hypothesis that each tortoise
   species had originated from an original species and had adapted to life
   on the different islands in different ways.
   Darwin's first sketch of an evolutionary tree from his First Notebook
   on Transmutation of Species (1837)
   Enlarge
   Darwin's first sketch of an evolutionary tree from his First Notebook
   on Transmutation of Species (1837)

First publications, heart symptoms, and romance

   While writing secretly about evolution in 1837, Darwin was busy with
   publishing information from his expedition. As captain, FitzRoy was
   required to write an official account of the Beagle voyages. He
   requested Darwin to contribute the natural history volume in the form
   of a Journal based on field notes. Darwin finished this around 20 June
   when King William IV died and the Victorian era began.

   During the writing of his Journal, Darwin had two other projects to
   deal with: his book on South American Geology, and editing and
   publishing the expert reports on his fossil collection as a multivolume
   Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. Henslow used his contacts to
   arrange a Treasury grant of £1,000 to sponsor this.

   Under the pressure of organising Zoology and correcting proofs of his
   Journal, Darwin's health waned. On 20 September 1837 he suffered
   "palpitations of the heart" and left for a month of recuperation in the
   country. Along the way,^ he visitied Maer Hall where his invalid aunt
   was being cared for by her spinster daughter Emma Wedgwood and
   entertained them and his uncle with tales of his travels. His uncle Jos
   pointed out an area of ground where cinders had disappeared under loam
   and suggested that this might have been the work of earthworms. This
   led Darwin to the idea for a talk which he gave to the Geological
   Society on 1 November, on the unusually mundane subject of worm casts:
   The first scholarly treatment of soil forming processes.
   Charles chose to marry his cousin, Emma Wedgwood.
   Enlarge
   Charles chose to marry his cousin, Emma Wedgwood.

   Fully recuperated, he returned home to Shrewsbury. Scientifically
   pondering his career and prospects he drew up a list with columns
   headed "Marry" and "Not Marry", with entries in the pro-marriage column
   included "constant companion and a friend in old age ... better than a
   dog anyhow," while among the cons were "less money for books" and
   "terrible loss of time." The pros won out. He had a discussion with his
   father about the prospect of marriage then went to visit his cousin
   Emma on 29 July 1838. He did not get around to proposing, but against
   his father's advice he told her of his ideas on transmutation, even
   though Emma had been brought up as a very devout Anglican.

   While his thoughts and work continued in London over the autumn he
   suffered repeated bouts of illness. On 11 November he returned and
   proposed to Emma, once more telling her his ideas. She accepted, but
   later wrote beseeching him to read from the Gospel of St. John a
   section on love and following the Way which also states that "If a man
   abide not in me...they are burned". He sent a warm reply which eased
   her concern, but she would continue to worry that his lapses of faith
   could endanger her hope that they would meet in afterlife.

   Darwin considered Malthus's argument that human population increases
   more quickly than food production, leaving people competing for food
   and making charity useless. He later formulated this in the terms of
   his biological theory as: "Man tends to increase at a greater rate than
   his means of subsistence; consequently he is occasionally subjected to
   a severe struggle for existence, and natural selection will have
   effected whatever lies within its scope." He linked this to the
   findings about species relating to localities, his enquiries into
   animal breeding, and ideas of Natural "laws of harmony". Towards the
   end of November 1838 he compared breeders selecting traits to a
   Malthusian Nature selecting from variants thrown up by "chance" so that
   "every part of newly acquired structure is fully practised and
   perfected", and thought this "the most beautiful part of my theory" of
   how species originated.

   He went house-hunting and eventually found "Macaw Cottage" in Gower
   Street, London, then moved his "museum" in over Christmas. He was
   showing signs of stress, and Emma wrote urging him to get some rest,
   almost prophetically remarking "So don't be ill any more my dear
   Charley till I can be with you to nurse you." On 24 January 1839 he was
   honoured by being elected as Fellow of the Royal Society and presented
   his paper on the Roads of Glen Roy.

Marriage and children

   Darwin in 1842 with his eldest son, William Erasmus Darwin.

    Darwin and his eldest son William Erasmus Darwin in 1842.

                        Darwin's Children
   William Erasmus Darwin ( 27 December 1839– 1914)
   Anne Elizabeth Darwin ( 2 March 1841– 22 April 1851)
   Mary Eleanor Darwin ( 23 September 1842– 16 October 1842)
   Henrietta Emma Etty Darwin ( 25 September 1843– 1929)
   George Howard Darwin ( 9 July 1845– 7 December 1912)
   Elizabeth "Bessy" Darwin ( 8 July 1847– 1926)
   Francis Darwin ( 6 August 1848– 19 September 1925)
   Leonard Darwin ( 15 January 1850– 26 March 1943)
   Horace Darwin ( 13 May 1851– 29 September 1928)
   Charles Waring Darwin ( 6 December 1856– 28 June 1858)

   On 29 January 1839, Darwin married his cousin Emma Wedgwood at Maer in
   an Anglican ceremony arranged to also suit the Unitarians. After first
   living in Gower Street, London, the couple moved on 17 September 1842
   to Down House in Downe. The Darwins had ten children, three of whom
   died early. Many of his surviving children and their grandchildren
   would later achieve notability themselves (see Darwin — Wedgwood
   family)

   Several of their children suffered illness or weaknesses, and Charles
   Darwin's fear that this might be due to the closeness of his and Emma's
   lineage was expressed in his writings on the ill effects of inbreeding
   and advantages of crossing.

Development of the theory of natural selection

   Darwin was now an eminent naturalist, settled with a private income,
   and privately working on his theory. He had a vast amount of work to
   do, writing up all his findings and supervising the preparation of the
   multivolume Zoology, which would describe his collections. He embarked
   on extensive experiments with plants and consultations with animal
   husbanders, including pigeon and pig breeders, trying to find soundly
   based answers to all the arguments he anticipated when he presented his
   theory in public.

   When FitzRoy's account was published in May 1839, Darwin's Journal and
   Remarks was a great success. Later that year it was published on its
   own, becoming the bestseller today known as The Voyage of the Beagle.
   In December 1839, as Emma's first pregnancy progressed, Darwin suffered
   more illness and accomplished little during the following year.

   Darwin tried to explain his theory to close scientific friends, but
   they were slow to show interest and thought that selection must need a
   divine selector. In 1842 the family moved to rural Down House to escape
   the pressures of London. Darwin formulated a short "Pencil Sketch" of
   his theory, and by 1844 had written a 240-page "Essay" that expanded
   his early ideas on natural selection. Darwin feared putting the theory
   out in an incomplete form. His ideas about evolution were bound to be
   highly controversial, if any attention was paid to them at all. Other
   ideas about evolution – especially the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck –
   had been soundly dismissed by the English scientific community, and
   were associated with political radicalism. The anonymous publication of
   Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation in 1844 created another
   controversy over radicalism and evolution, and was severely attacked by
   Darwin's friends who emphasised that no reputable scientist would want
   to be associated with such ideas.

   Darwin completed his third geological book in 1846. Assisted by his
   friend, the young botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, he embarked on a huge
   study of barnacles. In 1847, Hooker read the "Essay" and sent notes
   that provided Darwin with the calm critical feedback that he needed.

   In an attempt to improve his chronic ill health, Darwin went to a spa
   in Malvern in 1849. To his surprise, he found that the two months of
   water treatment helped. Then his treasured daughter Annie fell ill,
   reawakening his fears that his illness might be hereditary. After a
   long series of crises, she died and Darwin lost all faith in a
   beneficent God.

   He met the young freethinking naturalist Thomas Huxley who was to
   become a close friend and ally. Darwin's work on barnacles (Cirripedia)
   had found " homologies" that supported his theory by showing that
   slightly changed body parts could serve different functions to meet new
   conditions, and in 1853 it earned him the Royal Society's Royal Medal,
   establishing his reputation as a biologist. He completed this study in
   1854 and turned his attention to his theory of species.

Publication of theory

   Darwin was forced into early publication of his theory of natural
   selection.
   Enlarge
   Darwin was forced into early publication of his theory of natural
   selection.

   Darwin found an answer to the problem of the forking of genera in an
   analogy with industrial ideas of division of labour, with specialised
   varieties each finding their niche so that species could diverge. He
   experimented with seeds, testing their ability to survive sea-water to
   transfer species to isolated islands, and bred pigeons to test his
   ideas of natural selection being comparable to the "artificial
   selection" used by pigeon breeders.

   In the spring of 1856, Lyell read a paper on the Introduction of
   species by Alfred Russel Wallace, a naturalist working in Borneo. Lyell
   urged Darwin to publish his theory to establish precedence. Despite
   illness, Darwin began a 3-volume book titled Natural Selection,
   obtaining specimens and information from naturalists including Wallace
   and Asa Gray. In December 1857, as Darwin worked on the book, he
   received a letter from Wallace asking if it would delve into human
   origins. Sensitive to Lyell's fears, Darwin responded that "I think I
   shall avoid the whole subject, as so surrounded with prejudices, though
   I fully admit that it is the highest & most interesting problem for the
   naturalist." He encouraged Wallace's theorising, saying "without
   speculation there is no good & original observation." Darwin added that
   "I go much further than you." His manuscript reached 250,000 words,
   then on 18 June 1858 he received a paper in which Wallace described the
   evolutionary mechanism and requested him to send it on to Lyell. Darwin
   did so, shocked that he had been "forestalled". Though Wallace had not
   asked for publication, Darwin offered to send it to any journal that
   Wallace chose. He put matters in the hands of Lyell and Hooker. They
   agreed on a joint presentation at the Linnean Society on 1 July of On
   the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of
   Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection. Darwin's infant
   son died and he was unable to attend.

   The initial announcement of the theory gained little immediate
   attention. It was mentioned briefly in a few small reviews, but to most
   people it seemed much the same as other varieties of evolutionary
   thought. For the next thirteen months Darwin suffered from ill health
   and struggled to produce an abstract of his "big book on species".
   Receiving constant encouragement from his scientific friends, Darwin
   finally finished his abstract and Lyell arranged to have it published
   by John Murray. The title was agreed as On the Origin of Species by
   Means of Natural Selection, and when the book went on sale to the trade
   on 22 November 1859, the stock of 1,250 copies was oversubscribed. At
   the time "Evolutionism" implied creation without divine intervention,
   and Darwin avoided using the words "evolution" or "evolve", though the
   book ends by stating that "endless forms most beautiful and most
   wonderful have been, and are being, evolved." The book only briefly
   alluded to the idea that human beings, too, would evolve in the same
   way as other organisms. Darwin wrote in deliberate understatement that
   "light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history."

Reaction to the publication

   A typical satire was the later caricature in Hornet magazine portraying
   Darwin with an ape body and the bushy beard he grew in 1866.
   Enlarge
   A typical satire was the later caricature in Hornet magazine portraying
   Darwin with an ape body and the bushy beard he grew in 1866.

   Darwin's book set off a public controversy which he monitored closely,
   keeping press cuttings of thousands of reviews, articles, satires,
   parodies and caricatures. Reviewers were quick to pick out the unstated
   implications of "men from monkeys", though a Unitarian review was
   favourable and The Times published a glowing review by Huxley which
   included swipes at Richard Owen, leader of the scientific establishment
   Huxley was trying to overthrow. Owen initially appeared neutral, but
   then wrote a review condemning the book.

   The Church of England scientific establishment including Darwin's old
   Cambridge tutors Sedgwick and Henslow reacted against the book, though
   it was well received by a younger generation of professional
   naturalists. Then Essays and Reviews by seven liberal Anglican
   theologians declared that miracles were irrational (and supported the
   Origin), distracting attention away from Darwin.

   The most famous confrontation took place at a meeting of the British
   Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford. Professor John
   William Draper delivered a long lecture about Darwin and social
   progress, then Samuel Wilberforce, the Bishop of Oxford, argued against
   Darwin. In the ensuing debate Joseph Hooker argued strongly for Darwin
   and Thomas Huxley established himself as "Darwin's bulldog" – the
   fiercest defender of evolutionary theory on the Victorian stage. The
   story is that on being asked by Wilberforce whether he was descended
   from monkeys on his grandfather's side or his grandmother's side,
   Huxley muttered: "The Lord has delivered him into my hands" and replied
   that he "would rather be descended from an ape than from a cultivated
   man who used his gifts of culture and eloquence in the service of
   prejudice and falsehood" (this is contested). The story spread around
   the country: Huxley had said he would rather be an ape than a Bishop.

   Many people felt that Darwin's view of nature destroyed the important
   distinction between man and beast. Darwin himself did not personally
   defend his theories in public, though he read eagerly about the
   continuing debates. He was frequently very ill, and mustered support
   through letters and correspondence. A core circle of scientific friends
   – Huxley, Hooker, Charles Lyell and Asa Gray – actively pushed his work
   to the fore of the scientific and public stage, defending him against
   his many critics in this key scientific controversy of the era, and
   helping to gain him the honour of the Royal Society's Copley Medal in
   1864. Darwin's theory also resonated with various movements at the time
   and became a key fixture of popular culture. The book was translated
   into many languages and went through numerous reprints. It became a
   staple scientific text accessible both to a newly curious middle class
   and to "working men", and was hailed as the most controversial and
   discussed scientific book ever written.

Active into old age

   Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of Darwin.
   Enlarge
   Julia Margaret Cameron's portrait of Darwin.

   Despite repeated bouts of illness during the last twenty-two years of
   his life Darwin pressed on with his work. He had published an abstract
   of his theory, but more controversial aspects of his "big book" were
   still incomplete. These included explicit evidence of humankind's
   descent from earlier animals, and exploration of possible causes
   underlying the development of society and of human mental abilities. He
   had yet to explain features with no obvious utility other than
   decorative beauty. His experiments, research and writing continued.

   When Darwin's daughter fell ill he set aside his experiments with
   seedlings and domestic animals to go with her to a seaside resort where
   he became interested in wild orchids. This developed into an innovative
   study of how their beautiful flowers served to control insect
   pollination and ensure cross fertilisation. As with the barnacles,
   homologous parts served different functions in different species. Back
   at home he lay on his sickbed in a room filled with experiments on
   climbing plants. He was visited by a reverent Ernst Haeckel who had
   spread the gospel of Darwinismus in Germany. Even at Cambridge,
   students now supported his ideas. Huxley gave "working-men's lectures"
   to widen the audience, and Wallace remained a supporter but
   increasingly turned to spiritualism. Variation grew to two huge
   volumes, forcing him to leave out humankind and sexual selection, but
   when printed was in huge demand.
   A classic image of Darwin in 1880, still researching and producing
   numerous books.
   A classic image of Darwin in 1880, still researching and producing
   numerous books.

   The question of human evolution had been taken up by his supporters
   (and detractors) shortly after the publication of The Origin of
   Species, but Darwin's own contribution to the subject came more than
   ten years later with the two-volume The Descent of Man, and Selection
   in Relation to Sex published in 1871. In the second volume, Darwin
   introduced in full his concept of sexual selection to explain the
   evolution of human culture, the differences between the human sexes,
   and the differentiation of human races, as well as the beautiful (and
   seemingly non-adaptive) plumage of birds. A year later Darwin published
   his last major work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,
   which focused on the evolution of human psychology and its continuity
   with to the behaviour of animals. He developed his ideas that the human
   mind and cultures were developed by natural and sexual selection, an
   approach which has been revived in the last two decades with the
   emergence of evolutionary psychology. As he concluded in Descent of
   Man, Darwin felt that despite all of humankind's "noble qualities" and
   "exalted powers":

          "Man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his
          lowly origin."

   His evolution-related experiments and investigations culminated in five
   books on plants, and then his last book returned to the effect worms
   have on soil levels.

   Darwin died in Downe, Kent, England, on 19 April 1882. He had expected
   to be buried in St Mary's churchyard at Downe, but at the request of
   Darwin's colleagues, William Spottiswoode ( President of the Royal
   Society) arranged for Darwin to be given a state funeral and buried in
   Westminster Abbey, close to John Herschel and Isaac Newton.

Religious views

   The 1851 death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, was the final step in
   pushing an already doubting Darwin away from the idea of a beneficent
   God.
   The 1851 death of Darwin's daughter, Annie, was the final step in
   pushing an already doubting Darwin away from the idea of a beneficent
   God.

   Charles Darwin came from a Nonconformist background. Though several
   members of his family were Freethinkers, openly lacking conventional
   religious beliefs, he did not initially doubt the literal truth of the
   Bible. He attended a Church of England school, then at Cambridge
   studied Anglican theology. He intended to become a clergyman, and was
   fully convinced by William Paley's teleological argument that design in
   nature proved the existence of God. However, his beliefs began to shift
   during his time on board HMS Beagle. He questioned what he
   saw—wondering, for example, at beautiful deep-ocean creatures created
   where no one could see them, and shuddering at the sight of a wasp
   paralysing caterpillars as live food for its eggs; he saw the latter as
   contradicting Paley's vision of beneficent design. While on the Beagle
   Darwin was quite orthodox and would quote the Bible as an authority on
   morality, but had come to see the history in the Old Testament as being
   false and untrustworthy.

   Upon his return, he investigated transmutation of species. He knew that
   his clerical naturalist friends thought this a bestial heresy
   undermining miraculous justifications for the social order and knew
   that such revolutionary ideas were especially unwelcome at a time when
   the Church of England's established position was under attack from
   radical Dissenters and atheists. While secretly developing his theory
   of natural selection, Darwin even wrote of religion as a tribal
   survival strategy, though he still believed that God was the ultimate
   lawgiver. His belief continued to dwindle over the time, and with the
   death of his daughter Annie in 1851, Darwin finally lost all faith in
   Christianity. He continued to give support to the local church and help
   with parish work, but on Sundays would go for a walk while his family
   attended church. In later life, when asked about his religious views,
   he wrote that he had never been an atheist in the sense of denying the
   existence of a God, and that generally "an Agnostic would be the more
   correct description of my state of mind."

   Charles Darwin recounted in his biography of his grandfather Erasmus
   Darwin how false stories were circulated claiming that Erasmus had
   called for Jesus on his deathbed. Charles concluded by writing "Such
   was the state of Christian feeling in this country [in 1802].... We may
   at least hope that nothing of the kind now prevails." Despite this
   hope, very similar stories were circulated following Darwin's own
   death, most prominently the " Lady Hope Story", published in 1915 which
   claimed he had converted on his sickbed. Such stories have been
   propagated by some Christian groups, to the extent of becoming urban
   legends, though the claims were refuted by Darwin's children and have
   been dismissed as false by historians. His daughter, Henrietta, who was
   at his deathbed, said that he did not convert to Christianity. His last
   words were, in fact, directed at Emma: "Remember what a good wife you
   have been."

Legacy

   Charles Darwin's contributions to evolutionary thought had an enormous
   effect on many fields of science.
   Enlarge
   Charles Darwin's contributions to evolutionary thought had an enormous
   effect on many fields of science.

   Charles Darwin's theory that evolution occurred through natural
   selection changed the thinking of countless fields of study from
   biology to anthropology. His work established that "evolution" had
   occurred: not necessarily that it was by natural or sexual selection
   (this particular recognition would not become fully standard until the
   rediscovery of Gregor Mendel's work in the early 20th century and the
   creation of the modern synthesis). Others before him had outlined the
   idea of natural selection: in his lifetime Darwin acknowledged the
   earlier writings of William Charles Wells and Patrick Matthew which he
   (and practically all other naturalists) had been unaware of when
   publishing his theory. However, it is clear that Darwin was the first
   to develop and publish a scientific theory of natural selection, and
   that the alleged predecessors did not contribute to the development or
   success of natural selection as a theory in science.

   Darwin's work was very controversial at the time he published it and
   many during his time did not take it seriously. Evolution by natural
   selection proved to be a significant blow to notions of divine creation
   and intelligent design prevalent in 19th-century science, specifically
   overturning the Creation biology doctrine of " created kinds". The idea
   that there was no line to be drawn between human beings, races, and
   animals would forever make Darwin a symbol of iconoclasm who removed
   humanity's privileged place in the universe. To some of his detractors,
   Darwin would be "the monkey man", often depicted as part ape. His ideas
   also stood in opposition to the more common beliefs at the time that
   the human races had developed separately or that one race was superior
   by virtue of biology to another.

Commemoration

   During Darwin's lifetime many species and geographical features were
   given his name, including the Darwin Sound named by Robert FitzRoy
   after Darwin's prompt action saved them from being marooned, and the
   nearby Mount Darwin in the Andes celebrating Darwin's 25th birthday.
   When the Beagle was surveying Australia in 1839, Darwin's friend John
   Lort Stokes sighted a natural harbour which the ship's captain Wickham
   named Port Darwin. The settlement of Palmerston founded there in 1869
   was officially renamed Darwin in 1911 and became the capital city of
   Australia's Northern Territory, which also boasts Charles Darwin
   University and Charles Darwin National Park.

   The 14 species of Finches he researched in the Galápagos Islands are
   affectionately named "Darwin's Finches" in honour of his legacy. In
   1964, Darwin College, Cambridge was founded, named in honour of the
   Darwin family, partially because they owned some of the land it was on.
   In 1992, Darwin was ranked #16 on Michael H. Hart's list of the most
   influential figures in history. Darwin was given particular recognition
   in 2000 when his image appeared on the Bank of England ten pound note,
   replacing Charles Dickens. His impressive, luxuriant beard (which was
   reportedly difficult to forge) was said to be a contributory factor to
   the bank's choice. Darwin came fourth in the 100 Greatest Britons poll
   sponsored by the BBC and voted for by the public.

   As a humorous celebration of evolution, the annual Darwin Award is
   bestowed on individuals who "aid the process of evolution by
   demonstrating their unfitness through fatally stupid actions."

   In 2006, he was featured in his own "Darwin" exhibition at the American
   Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Eugenics

   Following Darwin's publication of the Origin his cousin Francis Galton
   applied the concepts to human society, producing ideas to promote
   "hereditary improvement" starting in 1865 and elaborated at length in
   1869. In The Descent of Man Darwin agreed that Galton had demonstrated
   that "talent" and "genius" in humans were probably inherited, but
   thought that the social changes Galton proposed were too "utopian".
   Neither Galton nor Darwin supported government intervention and instead
   believed that, at most, heredity should be taken into consideration by
   people seeking potential mates. In 1883, after Darwin's death, Galton
   began calling his social philosophy Eugenics. In the twentieth century,
   eugenics movements gained popularity in a number of countries and
   became associated with reproduction control programmes such as
   compulsory sterilisation laws, then were stigmatised after their usage
   in the rhetoric of Nazi Germany in its goals of genetic "purity".

Social Darwinism

   In 1944 the American historian Richard Hofstadter applied the term "
   Social Darwinism" to describe 19th- and 20th-century thinking developed
   from the ideas of Thomas Malthus and Herbert Spencer, which applied
   ideas of evolution and " survival of the fittest" to societies or
   nations competing for survival in a hostile world. These ideas became
   discredited by association with racism and imperialism. Though the term
   is anachronistic, in Darwin's day the difference between what was later
   called "Social Darwinism" and simple " Darwinism" was less clear.
   However, Darwin did not believe that his scientific theory mandated any
   particular theory of governance or social order. Indeed, he believed
   that sympathy should be extended to all races and nations.

   The use of the phrase "Social Darwinism" to describe Malthus's ideas is
   particularly disingenuous, since Malthus died in 1834 before the
   inception of Darwin's theory was spurred by his reading the 6th edition
   of Malthus' famous Essay on a Principle of Population in 1838.
   Spencer's evolutionary "progressivism" and his social and political
   ideas were largely Malthusian, and his books on economics of 1851 and
   on evolution of 1855 predated Darwin's publication of the Origin in
   1859.

Works

   Sources of free e-books online:
     * Bibliography: Darwin Online Table of Contents (including
       alternative editions, contributions to books & periodicals,
       correspondence & life) Free to read, but not Public Domain.

   Published works

     * 1836: A LETTER, Containing Remarks on the Moral State of TAHITI,
       NEW ZEALAND, &c. – BY CAPT. R. FITZROY AND C. DARWIN, ESQ. OF
       H.M.S. 'Beagle.'
     * 1839: Journal and Remarks ( The Voyage of the Beagle)
     * Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle: published between 1839 and
       1843 in five volumes by various authors, Edited and superintended
       by Charles Darwin: information on two of the volumes –

          1840: Part I. Fossil Mammalia, by Richard Owen (Darwin's
          introduction)
          1839: Part II. Mammalia, by George R. Waterhouse (Darwin on
          habits and ranges)

     * 1842: The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
     * 1844: Geological Observations of Volcanic Islands , (French
       version)
     * 1846: Geological Observations on South America
     * 1849: Geology from A Manual of scientific enquiry; prepared for the
       use of Her Majesty's Navy: and adapted for travellers in general.,
       John F.W. Herschel ed.
     * 1851: A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, with Figures of all
       the Species. The Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated Cirripedes.
     * 1851: A Monograph on the Fossil Lepadidae; or, Pedunculated
       Cirripedes of Great Britain
     * 1854: A Monograph of the Sub-class Cirripedia, with Figures of all
       the Species. The Balanidae (or Sessile Cirripedes); the Verrucidae,
       etc.
     * 1854: A Monograph on the Fossil Balanidæ and Verrucidæ of Great
       Britain
     * 1858: On the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means
       of Selection
     * 1859: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or
       the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life
     * 1862: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign
       orchids are fertilised by insects
     * 1868: Variation of Plants and Animals Under Domestication (PDF
       format), Vol. 1, Vol. 2
     * 1871: The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex
     * 1872: The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals
     * 1875: Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants
     * 1875: Insectivorous Plants
     * 1876: The Effects of Cross and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable
       Kingdom
     * 1877: The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species
     * 1879: "Preface and 'a preliminary notice'" in Ernst Krause's
       Erasmus Darwin
     * 1880: The Power of Movement in Plants
     * 1881: The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms
     * 1887: Autobiography of Charles Darwin (Edited by his son Francis
       Darwin)
     * 1958: Autobiography of Charles Darwin (Barlow, unexpurgated)

   Letters

     * Correspondence of Charles Darwin
     * 1887: Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, (ed. Francis Darwin).
       Volume I, Volume II - Classic Literature Library

     * Volume 1 Volume 2 - Google Books
     * 1903: More Letters of Charles Darwin, (ed. Francis Darwin and A.C.
       Seward). Volume I, Volume II

Citations

    1. ^ Browne 2002, p. 497.
    2. ^ Browne 1995, p. 6.
    3. ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 11.
    4. ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 12-15.
    5. ^ Darwin 1871, ch. 7.
    6. ^ Browne 1995, p. 72.
    7. ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 33-40.
    8. ^ Browne 1995, p. 82.
    9. ^ Desmond & Moore 1991, p. 80-81.
   10. ^ Browne 1995, p. 97
   11. ^ Browne 1995, pp. 133-134.
   12. ^ Browne 1995, pp. 152-156.
   13. ^ Browne 1995, pp. 183-190
   14. ^ Darwin, C. R. [1835]. Extracts from letters to Professor Henslow.
       Cambridge, [privately printed], p. 7
   15. ^ Eldredge 2006.
   16. ^ Keynes, Richard ed. 2000. Charles Darwin's zoology notes &
       specimen lists from H.M.S. Beagle. Cambridge: Cambridge University
       Press. June – August 1836
   17. ^ The Voyage of the Beagle P. 526
   18. ^ Browne 1995, pp. 177-178.
   19. ^ Browne 1995, pp. 368-369.
   20. ^ Browne 1995, p. 396.
   21. ^ Darwin 1871, ch. 21.
   22. ^ Lucas 1979.
   23. ^ Browne 2002, pp. 495-497.
   24. ^ Moore 2006
   25. ^ The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Ch. VIII, p. 304. London,
       John Murray, 1887.
   26. ^ The Darwin Deathbed Conversion Question
   27. ^ Did Darwin Die as a Christian?. Retrieved on 2006- 06-13.
   28. ^ Browne 2002, p. 495.
   29. ^ How to join the noteworthy. Retrieved on 4 September 2006.

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