Once there was a man who was supposed to be a priest, then he came forging a weapon so successfully driven by evidence that it became a hurdle to every single religion possible. He was even considered as the agent of the devil himself who came to God's green earth to sow seeds of corruption among the faithful warriors of their religions. And this man was one Charles Darwin.
Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England on the 12th day of February 1809. He was the son of Robert Darwin, a doctor, and Susannah Darwin, the daughter of the infamous potteries owner, Josiah Wedgwood. He was also the grandchild of the man known as Erasmus Darwin, who was a scientist with ideas beyond the normal perception of humans back then — traveling through the air, submarine ships, and evolution itself.
Darwin was not an outstanding student during his early teenage years. He attended Shrewsbury School, which was a school focused on classics, such as the Greek and Latin languages. Darwin did not focus on studying such a thing, thinking that it will not develop his career. Instead, he focused on analyzing and absorbing the poetry of William Wordsworth and Lord Byron.
During his teenage years, Darwin was so captivated in science that he and his brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin, build a chemistry lab in a garden shed to carry out simple experiments.
In 1825, Robert Darwin enrolled his son in the Edinburgh Medical School in Scotland where his son showed no interest in medicine. One time, he even left a lecture because he could not handle seeing the horrors of surgery.
Darwin showed interest in taxidermy (the art of mounting the skins of dead creatures for exhibition in a lifelike state) — a passion he learned from a former African slave, John Edmonstone.
Darwin's interest in science grew more as he joined the Plinian Society — an organization for naturalists. Darwin saw various topics tested through the group's intellectual debates. These activities exposed Darwin to the ideas opposing the creation concept of the origin of life.
While at the University, Darwin met Robert Grant, a zoologist, and the two exercised a great friendship. Grant was known as the first person to interest Darwin in expanding the theory of evolution. And suitably at this time, Darwin started collecting fossils and study the fauna portion of the biosphere.
After years of being in medical school, Darwin suddenly quit his course in 1827. This disappointed his father so much, but for Darwin, this is an opportunity knocking. Darwin joined Josiah Wedgwood II, his uncle, for a trip in Paris and by the time he came back, his father already enrolled him for a study in clergy at Christ's College, Cambridge University.
Despite the evolutionary idea Darwin started to configure, he never once doubted the word of the Bible — the very foundation that Darwin will later force to crumble.
During the summer break, Darwin had a romantic relationship with Fanny Owen, who was the sister of one of Darwin's colleagues. They spent long hours chatting, riding horses, and playing card games. Darwin then pursued his studies in theology, but rather in immersing himself in studying the Bible, the man gradually changed his attention towards collecting beetles.
Darwin attended lectures on botany given by Reverend John Stevens Henslow. Darwin was later quoting that this field might be what he will pursue as his job as this field rejuvenates his enthusiasm.
In 1829, Darwin showed no interest in joining the clergy. Instead, he spent most of his time with an entomologist named Reverend Frederick William Hope, who sparked Darwin's interest in studying beetles — an influence that will cause the Darwin-Fanny relationship to dissolve.
Despite Darwin's clear lack of interest in his clerical studies, he managed to pass his finals exam in January 1831, even placing 10th in his class on the said exam, but Darwin was influenced by Hensley to not settle in clergy first but to first travel deeper to the natural world. And travel did Darwin.
Darwin planned to take a trip to the Canary Islands in Spain with his friend Marmaduke Ramsey. The only problem was Marmaduke died before the duo even set sail. Darwin was in a frown state because of this tragedy and did not continue his trip. A few weeks later, he received a letter from Reverend Henslow, informing Darwin that there was an opening on a ship that may interest him. This turned out to be the famous HMS Beagle — the ship that was carrying the man who was then about to change the entire biological world.
The Beagle was one of the several ships intended to map South America. Robert Fitzroy was the captain of the Beagle who was looking for a scholar to help him in the Beagle's 5 year-journey and the door came knocking on Charles Darwin and he gladly accepted the offer.
The Beagle set sail on the 27th day of December 1831. From the very start, Darwin was seasick, a condition that remained over the next 5 years of the journey. During this trip, Darwin collected a huge number of specimens which he thoroughly cataloged and secured on board. To secure these specimens, every month, Darwin arranged shipments to send the specimens to Reverend Henslow in Cambridge.
The Beagle visited various ports in Brazilian ports, Patagonia (the now-Argentina), Tierra del Fuego, Falkland Islands, and Cape Horn, where Darwin found numerous specimens that he studies so deep as he was so fascinated with them. Darwin sends a letter to Reverend Henslow in Cambridge discussing his ideas and discoveries along the way. These letters were also read aloud to the Philosophical Society of Cambridge, earning Darwin a reputation of being an excellent naturalist and observer.
On Darwin's 25th birthday, captain Fitzroy named the highest mountain in the Tierra del Fuego region Mount Darwin, in honor of the amazing naturalist.
While onboard, Darwin was deemed too sick to continue the voyage so he spent 4 months in Tierra del Fuego recovering. Darwin recovered and returned to the voyage in November 1834.
After sailing to South America's west coast and seeing firsthand the damage an earthquake managed to land on the port of Concepcion, Chile, the Beagle set sail to the Pacific Ocean, more than 1000 km from the land.
It managed to visit the group of 13 small rocky islands that will be the platforms that changed Darwin's life and place him in the greats of the scientific field. These were of course the Galapagos Islands. Here, Darwin studied the nature of birds and reptiles and discovered that every single island has its kind of the mentioned animals. For example, Darwin observed the giant tortoises on each island were different in shell shape from the tortoises of other islands. But the biggest attention-grabber Darwin encountered was a group of birds known as finches. He observed that these birds, for every island, have different beak shapes and sizes following the available food on the region. This was a groundbreaking discovery for Charles Darwin. He realized that organisms managed to adapt to their environment over time. Thus, the theory of evolution was rejuvenated to an atmospheric degree.
The Beagle continued its voyage to the Tahiti New Zealand, and then Australia. He grew concerned with the native people of the places he visited as they were ruled by foreigners in their very own land — a concern that Darwin manages to incorporate in his idea of evolution: The stronger always took over from the weaker.
The Beagle returned to Falmouth, England on the 2nd of October 1836. Darwin spent the next years of his life studying a total of 1529 specimens he collected in preserved passion and 3907 specimens he labeled dried.
By mid-1838, Darwin collected enough confidence to share his radical ideas with this father. By that time, Darwin developed a relationship with one of his cousin, Emma Wedgwood — a decision his father took notice. Despite the disagreement of his father, Darwin continued the relationship with Wedgwood.
Darwin continued his studies, involving a research cross-breeding of animals. He asked experts after experts to gain more knowledge about the subject and by May of 1839, he managed to publish a multi-volume collection he wrote alongside Captain Fitzroy, the "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of the HMS Beagle". This narrative of what the Beagle voyage became an instant hit. Darwin, with this collection, became a well-known scientist, author, and even manage to get a spot as a member of the Royal Society.
Darwin, during the next two decades, continued his research and writing. Three geology books, one entitled "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs", were published by the man. But as the year goes by, Darwin's health became a hurdle to his scientific journey. His work became limited as he was subjected to fatigue and diseases during that time. Despite his illness, his research on the idea of evolution was still carried out by the man who continued by all means necessary. He gradually came to realize that species are not fixed and immutable. He wrote a short version of these ideas in the year 1842 but decided to collect every single information he could get to write a book that can feed the public with his ideas in a sufficient manner.
For many years, Darwin was so keen on publishing his ideas on evolution by natural selection. He now questioned the creationism concept of the Bible and believe more on organisms being modified through time — modifications that will either help them survive in their habitat or will cause them to perish.
Darwin may have never succeeded in finishing his ideas on evolution but for a letter which came from one Alfred Russel Wallace, who was another English naturalist. Darwin was blown away by the neatness of Wallace's ideas that he saw his ideas orderly described in a summary. So at a scientific meeting at the Linnean Society in London, the works of both Wallace and Darwin were presented in July 1858. Receiving a shower of positive response, Darwin quickly finishes his great book that will forever eclipse any book written solely for evolutionary biology. This was published on the 24th day of November 1859 and it was entitled "The Origin of Species". This book discusses variation, species identification, animal instincts, fossils, geographic manner of animals and plants. Yet Darwin never explained the origin of any one of those species. He simply explained the propagation of life produced by evolution.
Darwin did not retire after the publication of this groundbreaking work. He continued his researches and experimenting with various biological concepts throughout the years. In the year 1871, he published "Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex", wherein he concluded that humans were not the product of a supreme deity, rather are the evolved form of hominids, along with other animals.
In the 1870s, Darwin became healthy once again and received an 1877 special degree by Cambridge University. Darwin continued to refine his two well-received works with the 6th edition of the Origin of Species, published in 1871, used the word evolution for the very first time.
After a heart attack struck the naturalist in December 1881, Darwin peacefully died at Down House when he was 73 years of age. He was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey, London, next to the great Isaac Newton.
Reference:
[1] Biographics
[2] Thoughtco — Photo
