Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin (1809 - 1892)

Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England, the son of an upper middle class physician. Charles’ mother died when he was eight years of age. The next year, Charles was sent to a boarding school, also in Shrewsbury, which he attended for seven more years. Because the school was only a mile from his home, Charles was able to see his father, brother and sisters frequently. Darwin studied math, sciences and literature, but was not considered an especially good student. Nonetheless, he was sent off to Edinburgh University in 1825, where he studied medicine for two years. He found he had no interest or inclination in that profession, but was instead impressed with some Lamarckian ideas on evolution that he picked up along the way. Also, in 1829, Darwin went along on an entomological survey trip of Northern Wales with a well-known professor. Darwin's childhood interest in that field was rekindled.

Graduating in 1831, Darwin had showed no special talent for the clergy, either, but at least he was exposed to a variety of influential scientists at Cambridge. He majored during his last year there in geology. After graduation he began thinking about what career to pursue, and in late summer he was invited to come along on a round-the-world trip as unpaid naturalist on a survey ship, the H.M.S. Beagle.

In the autumn of 1835, Darwin had the opportunity to observe the plants and animals of the Galapagos Islands, as well as its geology. (His notes on the finches and tortoises, of course, are still respected and well remembered.)

In 1836 the Beagle finally returned to England, and Darwin took up residence in London. In 1840 he published the first of the five volumes describing the Beagle’s findings. Not forced to pursue other gainful employment, he studied on his own for several more years. In 1838 he proposed marriage to Emma Wedgwood, whom he had been courting –— at first largely in letters — for many years. In 1839 he both married and was elected to the Royal Society. (Reading his autobiography, one is certain he considered the former event even more significant than the latter!)

Until 1855, Darwin busied himself studying and writing mostly about barnacles. But in 1856, he began work on what he hoped would be a complete guide to evolution — it was never finished to be finished, however. (Later he thought of the Origin of Species as merely an abstract of this larger, only imagined tome.)

In 1858 Darwin received a letter from the man who is now thought of as the co-developer of evolution theory, Alfred Russell Wallace. The letter more than hinted that he had developed his own theory of natural selection. Of course Darwin, always overly methodical and hesitant, was very alarmed that this relative unknown might scoop his life’s work. However, a compromise was reached, and in July of that year papers by both Darwin and Wallace were read at the Linnaean Society, describing a theory of evolution through the processes of natural selection.

With this encouragement, Darwin finished his Origin of Species by the spring of the next year. The first printing, 1250 copies, hit the streets in November 1859 — and sold out the first day!

In 1872, Darwin published his last major work, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. He died ten years later, leaving behind a careful body of work that has not only served to stimulate many other branches of science (including of course psychology), but remains largely as it was originally envisioned, and rarely successfully challenged on any major point.