charles darwin biography pdf

Charles Darwin

(1809-1882)

Who Was Charles Darwin?

Charles Robert Darwin was a British naturalist and biologist known for his theory of evolution and his understanding of the process of natural selection. In 1831, he embarked on a five-year voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle , during which time his studies of various plants and an led him to formulate his theories. In 1859, he published his landmark book, On the Origin of Species .

Darwin was born on February 12, 1809, in the tiny merchant town of Shrewsbury, England. A child of wealth and privilege who loved to explore nature, Darwin was the second youngest of six kids.

Darwin came from a long line of scientists: His father, Dr. R.W. Darwin, was a medical doctor, and his grandfather, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, was a renowned botanist. Darwin’s mother, Susanna, died when he was only eight years old.

In October 1825, at age 16, Darwin enrolled at University of Edinburgh along with his brother Erasmus. Two years later, he became a student at Christ's College in Cambridge .

His father hoped he would follow in his footsteps and become a medical doctor, but the sight of blood made Darwin queasy. His father suggested he study to become a parson instead, but Darwin was far more inclined to study natural history.

While Darwin was at Christ's College, botany professor John Stevens Henslow became his mentor. After Darwin graduated Christ's College with a bachelor of arts degree in 1831, Henslow recommended him for a naturalist’s position aboard the HMS Beagle .

The ship, commanded by Captain Robert FitzRoy, was to take a five-year survey trip around the world. The voyage would prove the opportunity of a lifetime for the budding young naturalist.

On December 27, 1831, the HMS Beagle launched its voyage around the world with Darwin aboard. Over the course of the trip, Darwin collected a variety of natural specimens, including birds, plants and fossils.

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Darwin in the Galapagos

Through hands-on research and experimentation, he had the unique opportunity to closely observe principles of botany, geology and zoology. The Pacific Islands and Galapagos Archipelago were of particular interest to Darwin, as was South America.

Upon his return to England in 1836, Darwin began to write up his findings in the Journal of Researches , published as part of Captain FitzRoy's larger narrative and later edited into the Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle .

The trip had a monumental effect on Darwin’s view of natural history. He began to develop a revolutionary theory about the origin of living beings that ran contrary to the popular view of other naturalists at the time.

Theory of Evolution

Darwin’s theory of evolution declared that species survived through a process called "natural selection," where those that successfully adapted or evolved to meet the changing requirements of their natural habitat thrived and reproduced, while those species that failed to evolve and reproduce died off.

Through his observations and studies of birds, plants and fossils, Darwin noticed similarities among species all over the globe, along with variations based on specific locations, leading him to believe that the species we know today had gradually evolved from common ancestors.

Darwin’s theory of evolution and the process of natural selection later became known simply as “Darwinism.”

At the time, 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. In either case, they believed species remained much the same throughout time.

'Origin of Species'

In 1858, after years of scientific investigation, Darwin publicly introduced his revolutionary theory of evolution in a letter read at a meeting of the Linnean Society . On November 24, 1859, he published a detailed explanation of his theory in his best-known work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

In the next century, DNA studies provided scientific evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution. However, controversy surrounding its conflict with Creationism — the religious view that all of nature was born of God — is still found among some people today.

Social Darwinism

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 himself rarely commented on any connections between his theories and human society. But while attempting to explain his ideas to the public, Darwin borrowed widely understood concepts, such as “survival of the fittest” from sociologist Herbert Spencer.

Over time, as the Industrial Revolution and laissez faire capitalism swept across the world, social Darwinism has been used as a justification for imperialism, labor abuses, poverty, racism, eugenics and social inequality.

Following a lifetime of devout research, Charles Darwin died at his family home, Down House, in London, on April 19, 1882. He was buried at Westminster Abbey .

More than a century later, Yale ornithologist Richard Brum sought to revive Darwin's lesser-known theory on sexual selection in The Evolution of Beauty .

While Darwin's original attempts to cite female aesthetic mating choices as a driving force of evolution was criticized, Brum delivered an effective argument via his expertise in birds, earning selection to The New York Times ' list of 10 best books of 2017.

QUICK FACTS

Name: Charles Darwin
Birth Year: 1809
Birth date: February 12, 1809
Birth City: Shrewsbury
Birth Country: England
Gender: Male
Best Known For: Charles Darwin was a British naturalist who developed a theory of evolution based on natural selection. His views and “social Darwinism” remain controversial.
Science and Medicine
Astrological Sign: Aquarius
University of Edinburgh
Interesting Facts
Although Charles Darwin originally went to college to be a physician, he changed career paths when he realized that he couldn't stomach the sight of blood.
Charles Darwin had a mountain named after him, Mount Darwin, in Tierra del Fuego for his 25th birthday. The monumental gift was given by Captain FitzRoy.
Death Year: 1882
Death date: April 19, 1882
Death City: Downe
Death Country: England

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CITATION INFORMATION

Article Title: Charles Darwin Biography
Author: Biography.com Editors
Website Name: The Biography.com website
Url: https://www.biography.com/scientists/charles-darwin
Access Date:
Publisher: A&E; Television Networks
Last Updated: March 29, 2021
Original Published Date: April 3, 2014
A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.
[How great the] difference between savage and civilized man is—it is greater than between a wild and [a] domesticated animal.
If all men were dead, then monkeys make men. Men make angels.
I am a complete millionaire in odd and curious little facts.
Multiply, vary, let the strongest live and the weakest die.
For the shield may be as important for victory, as the sword or spear.
I see no good reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious feelings of anyone."[In 'Origin of the Species']
A grain in the balance may determine which individuals shall live and which shall die—which variety or species shall increase in number, and which shall decrease, or finally become extinct.
If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down. But I can find out no such case.
The extinction of species and of whole groups of species, which has played so conspicuous a part in the history of the organic world, almost inevitably follows from the principle of natural selection.
There is grandeur in this view of life...from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.

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Charles Darwin's Manuscripts & Papers

Letters and materials on genealogy. 431 images Genealogical notes transcribed

Browse Itemized

Draft: Preliminary notice to Krause, Erasmus Darwin . F1319 . 1878-9. More fragments in CUL-DAR99.199a-199b Transcribed here

Proofs of Erasmus Darwin ; Forms of flowers ; Movement in plants ; Climbing plants ; Descent 2d ed.; Expression ; Insectivorous plants ; Cross and self fertilisation ; Origin 6th ed. & 33d thousand. 1867-87.

Text & image

Darwin's funeral, obituaries & related correspondence, & on Darwin's LL.D. degree. 1877-1906. 345 images Transcribed here

Scrapbook or press cuttings relating to Darwin's death, obituaries. 126 images Many transcribed Obituaries in Darwin Online , the largest collection in the world.

Sketch of species theory (copy of CUL-DAR6 ); proofs of Foundations , 1909 . 126 images

Correspondence: Erasmus Darwin. 1768-1819.

'Gorringes catalogue' of Darwin material at Gorringes House, Downe, 1932.

Correspondence and papers relating to CUL accession of Darwin manuscripts. 1950s-1960s. Photocopies: drafts of Origin , Descent , Expression , Insectivorous plants , Earthworms . Catalogues of Darwin's papers & abstracts. Letters & offprints on Patrick Matthew, A. Hancock. 242 images 8 transcribed here

Images Itemized

CUL-DAR226.1

Reviews of Darwin's works. 1859-82. 781 images 3 transcribed here See Reviews , the largest collection in the world.

Papers of Erasmus Darwin & Robert Waring Darwin. 1731-1848.

Draft essay: 'Breeding is the art of raising different kinds of animals for the use or pleasure of man.' 1875. Unpublished. Drafts of Insectivorous plants. 13 images Transcribed here

Correspondence re awards to Darwin. 1860-81.

Newspaper articles on Darwin and Down House. 1881-1936.

Portraits and photographs of Darwin and family. 1838-1940.

Botanical notebook of William Erasmus Darwin. 1850s-60s.

Leonard Darwin papers: correspondence with Emma Darwin, Nora Barlow, Ida Darwin; draft papers & articles on eugenics; recollections of Darwin & R. W. Darwin. 1860s-1943. 1,160 items.

See also Catalogue of the library of Charles Darwin …1908. A4 and A catalogue of the Darwin reprint collection …1963. A1037 . Transcribed here

Emma Darwin's diary . 1824-96. 3,325 images. Introduction by Janet Browne Transcribed here

Emma Darwin's diary (all in one file)

Vorzimmer, 1963. A catalogue of the Darwin reprint collection at the Botany School Library, Cambridge. Bound typescript.

Text Images PDF

Correspondence, mainly from Darwin. 1815-1945.

Darwin biographical material, correspondence, family papers.

Text

Letters on tickets for unveiling Darwin statue, South Kensington, 1885.

Francis Darwin letters to Dorothea (Dora) Pertz. 1886-1919.

Itemized Text

3 photos of Emma Darwin & Henrietta Litchfield.

Photograph album of German and Austrian men of science presented to Darwin. 1877.

CUL-Add.10252

Draft title of Natural selection . 'On the mutability of species' & other notes. Transcribed here

APS-B-D25.L[.38]

Funeral of Mr. Darwin...order of procession.

Funeral of Mr. Darwin...Admit the bearer...CHOIR.

Private Collection, USA

Text & image PDF

Private collection, California

Private Collection, Carroll

Private Collection, Virginia

Francis Darwin's annotated copy of Origin. 1859. Introduction by John van Wyhe Annotations only: Image / PDF

Text Image PDF

Correspondence, including Darwin's children and A. E. Shipley, clippings, photographs and manuscripts relating to 1909 Darwin Centenary, Cambridge, esp. exhibition at Christ's College. Introduction by John van Wyhe Transcribed here

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See also Darwin's Publications (which includes previously published manuscript transcripts ) and Supplementary Works .

Requests to reproduce manuscripts must be sent to the owner of the manuscript, not to Darwin Online . For those belonging to Cambridge University Library (i.e. "CUL-DAR") contact Imaging Services. If a work within the scope of Darwin Online is not listed here it is either in progress, a copy of the work has yet to be acquired or reproduction permission was denied. Please help us complete the online collection. See our list of works still needed .

All of the items within each DAR volume are individually itemized in the Darwin Online manuscript catalogue . Tens of thousands of manuscript images have been individually named according to their individual catalogue number. Other items are currently available only by browsing through their respective volume in the list above. We are particularly grateful to Sue Asscher, Katie Tabb, Arthur Koehl and especially Christine Chua for renaming thousands of these images.

John van Wyhe

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INDEX OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG WORKS OF CHARLES DARWIN

Compiled by david widger.

Click on the ## before many of the titles to view a linked table of contents for that volume.

Click on the title itself to open the original online file., tables of contents of volumes, the voyage of the beagle, by charles darwin, a naturalist's voyage round the world, by charles darwin, m.a., f.r.s., the foundations of the origin of species, two essays written in 1842 and 1844, edited by his son francis darwin, on the origin of species., or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life., by charles darwin,, deteailed contents. on the origin of species., on the origin of species by means of natural selection,, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life, by charles darwin, the origin of species by means of natural selection;, the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life., by charles darwin, m.a., f.r.s.,, author of "the descent of man," etc., etc., sixth london edition, with all additions and corrections., the 6th edition is often considered the definitive edition., the descent of man and selection in relation to sex, in two volumes—vol. i., with illustrations, the descent of man, and selection in relation to sex, in two volumes.-vol. ii., with illustrations, footnotes index, the variation of animals and plants under domestication., in two volumes.-vol. i., contents of volume i., list of illustrations., with illustrations., contents of volume ii., the life and letters of charles darwin, more letters of charles darwin, more letters of charles darwin, volume ii, the autobiography of charles darwin, from the life and letters of charles darwin, edited by his son francis darwin, charles darwin: his life told in an autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published letters, edited by his son, francis darwin, f.r.s., coral reefs, plates and drawings unavailable, volcanic islands, a monograph on the sub-class cirripedia (vol. 1 of 2), the lepadidae; or, pedunculated cirripedes, a monograph on the sub-class cirripedia (vol. 2 of 2), the balanidæ, (or sessile cirripedes); the verrucidæ, etc., etc., list of illustrations, geological observations on south america, the different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, the effects of cross & self-fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom., the expression of the emotions in man and animals, with photographic and other illustrations, illustrations, the formation of vegetable mould through the action of worms with observations on their habits, insectivorous plants, the power of movement in plants, assisted by francis darwin.

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