Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England.

He was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist. In 1825, he enrolled in medical school at the University of Edinburgh, but he found lectures dull and surgery distressing. He gave up his studies and went to Cambridge University to study theology. In 1831, he embarked on a five-year voyage aboard HMS Beagle as a naturalist and companion to the ship's captain. On his travels, Darwin collected plants, animals, and fossils, and took copious field notes. These collections and records provided the evidence he needed to develop his remarkable theory of evolution by natural selection as the best evidence-based explanation for the diversity and complexity of life on Earth. In the 1840s, he wrote several books on geology. In 1858, together with another naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), he presented the theory of evolution by natural selection at the Linnean Society in London. In 1859, he published the book "On the Origin of Species" that provoked some members of the Church of England as it contradicted the belief in divine creation. His book "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex" (1871) fuelled even greater debate as it suggested that humans descended from apes. "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals” (1872) was one of the first books to feature printed photographs, which discussed the evolution of human psychology and its continuity with the behaviour of animals. Many geographical features were given his name, e.g., Mount Darwin in the Andes, Darwin Sound in South America, and Port Darwin and the city of Darwin in Australia. The Linnean Society of London has commemorated Darwin's achievements by the award of the Darwin–Wallace Medal since 1908. Darwin College, a postgraduate college at Cambridge University, is named after the Darwin family.

In 1839, he married Emma Wedgwood (1808-1896). He died on April 19, 1882, in London, England.