Charles Darwin Biography

Charles Darwin was a well-known biologist and a British naturalist. Charles Darwin also developed a theory of evolution based on natural selection. The view of Darwin and social Darwinism always remains controversial. Charles Robert Darwin was the full name of Charles Darwin. In 1831, he started a five years voyage on the HMS Beagle around the world. He also made studies on various plants and helped him to formulate many theories. The Origin of Species was the book published by Charles Darwin in 1859, and it marked his landmark book. 

Charles Darwin Early Life and Education 

Charles Darwin was born on 12th February 1809 in the tiny merchant town of Shrewsbury in England. Charles Darwin belongs to a wealthy and privileged family. He also loved to explore nature. As per Charles Darwin Short Biography, he was the second youngest child of six kids of his parents. Dr R.W. Darwin was the father of Charles Darwin and he was a medical doctor.  Charles Darwin’s grandfather Dr Erasmus Darwin was a renowned botanist. Susanna was the mother of Charles Darwin. She died when Darwin was at the age of eight. 

Charles Darwin’s Children 

Elizabeth Janet Browne Darwin was a British historian of science. Janet Browne Darwin was the wife of Charles Darwin. He had ten children and two of his infants died. Usually, his children fell ill. At that time Charles Darwin feared that their children might have inherited weaknesses from inbreeding due to the close family ties. He also shared his view with his wife and cousin, Emma Wedgwood.

Charles Darwin also examined inbreeding in his documents. To find the result he also outcrossed the advantages from many species. Most of his surviving children are descendants and went to different careers. Among his surviving children, George, Francis and Horace became an astronomer, botanist and civil engineer. Other sons of Charles became soldiers, politicians, economists, eugenicists and mentors of the statistician and evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher.

Charles Darwin Educational Background

In October 1825, Charles Darwin was at the age of 16. He and his brother Erasmus enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. After two years, he became a student of Christ's College in Cambridge. Dr R.W. Darwin hoped Charles Darwin would follow in his footsteps to become a Doctor. But, Charles Darwin neglected his father’s suggestion and moved forward towards the study of natural history.  

Charles Darwin in HMS Beagle 

While Charles Darwin was studying at Christ's College. John Stevens Henslow was a botany professor of darwin, he was the mentor of darwin. After Darwin completed the bachelor of arts degree from Christ's College. In 1831, the mentor of Charles, Henslow recommended for naturalist’s position aboard the HMS Beagle. Captain Robert FitzRoy was the commander of the ship HMS beagle. Commander also took five years of survey trips around the world. This voyage also provides a lifetime opportunity for the budding young naturalist. On 27th December 1831, Charles Darwin also became a part of the HMS Beagle’s voyage around the world. In this trip darwin also collected a variety of natural specimens, including plants, birds, and fossils.

Let us look at some facts about Charles Darwin.

Facts About Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin in Galapagos 

Usually, Darwin did a lot of research and experiments. He got a unique opportunity to closely monitor the principles of geology, botany, and zoology. Like South America, Pacific Islands and Galapagos Island created special interest to Darwin. In 1836, he returned from his trip to England and started writing his research work in the Journal of Researches. In his journal, he published a part of Captain FitzRoy's narrative story and edited it in the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle. 

The trip on HMS Beagle gave a monumental impact on Darwin’s view of natural history. With his experience, he began to develop a revolutionary theory related to the origin of living beings. Even his view turned contrary to the other naturalist’s view. 

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution 

According to Darwin’s theory of evolution, the species in this world are surviving through the process called “natural selection”. The species which were successfully adopted or evolved to meet all the changes required to survive in nature are increased and reproduced. Those species failed to evolve according to natural will and became extinct soon as their reproduction died off. 

He made observations and studies on plants, fossils and birds to suggest this evolution. Darwin also made similar notices among all other species over the globe. The natural selection of species will also vary based on specific locations, which also lead him to believe that the species, which we know today must have evolved from common ancestors.  

Darwinism was the simple term used to describe Darwin’s theory of evolution and the process of natural selection. Meanwhile, other naturalists during his period closely believed that all the species must come into the world from the origin of the World and they were not created over the course of natural history. They also believed that all the species will remain in the world throughout time. 

Darwin’s Origin of Species 

As per Charles Robert Darwin Biography, he spent years of scientific investigation and in 1858, he introduced the revolutionary theory of evolution in front of all people. And he sounded a letter at a meeting of the Linnean Society about 'Origin of Species.’ On 24th November 1859, Darwin published all the required information regarding his theory and explained his best-known work related to the Origin of species and Means of Natural Selection.

DNA studies after a century also provided scientific evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution. But many controversies behind his research and its conflict with Creationism shows the religious view that all of nature was born of God and was still found among even today’s people. 

Social Darwinism 

According to the Charles Darwin Biography Book, Social Darwinism provided all the collection of ideas, which emerged during the late 1880s. Social Darwinism adopted Darwin's theory of evolution to explain social and economic issues. 

Social Darwinism is a collection of ideas that emerged in the late 1800s that adopted Darwin’s theory of evolution to explain social and economic issues. Darwin also explained any connections between his theories and human society. Darwin also attempted to explain his ideas to the public and establish his concepts such as “survival of the fittest”.

The Industrial Revolution and laissez-faire capitalism were found across the world.  At that time, their social Darwinism has been used as a justification for imperialism, poverty, labour abuses,   eugenics, racism, and social inequality.

Death of Charles Darwin 

According to the Brief Biography Of Charles Darwin, on 19th April 1882, Charles Darwin died at his family house, which was a Down House in London. Later, he was buried at Westminster Abbey. After a century, Yale ornithologist Richard Brum cross-checked and revived Darwin's lesser-known theory on sexual selection in The Evolution of Beauty. Usually, Darwin worked on an attempt to find female aesthetic mating choices as the prime driving force of evolution, which was criticized. Brum wrote a book, The New York Times, which was on the list of 10 best books of 2017. This book provided an effective argument via his expertise in birds and earning selection.