Charles Darwin's Life and Revolutionary Work

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Charles Darwin by far, revolutionized biology as known to modern society. He is responsible for the theory of evolution that people of today still go by. He was born on February 12, 1809 in England as the fifth child into the family of Dr. Robert and Susannah Darwin. He had three older sisters and one older brother. Because of his father’s success as a physician, and his mother coming from the Wedgewood family fortune, the Darwin family was considered well-off. Robert Darwin worked many great hours while Susannah stayed home to take care of the children. Unfortunately, when Charles was eight years old his mother passed away from complications of an illness that she had for a year. From that point on, Robert began working much more and depended on the older two girls to raise and take after the other children. That is when Charles began getting an education. He did not like school at all and did very poorly. He much rather enjoyed hunting and collecting things. He had an extreme fascination with animals and traveling. He’d follow his brother all over, including to Wales. One day at the age of sixteen, however, his father told him that he had to make something of himself. Charles was expected to follow the family tradition and become a doctor. He was sent to Edinburgh University where he received his Bachelor of Medicine degree. Though he completed his schooling, Charles knew he was not cut out to be a doctor so he continued on to the school Christ College in Cambridge where he studied theology. He had hopes of becoming a clergymen but that all changed when he befriended John Henslow. John Henslow was a professor of botany. He and Charles shared many of the same beliefs and shared that with each other. Charles completed his schoolin...

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... or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, and The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex.

Previous theories of evolution had not been able to explain how species had been able to evolve without a guiding force. Darwin’s answer was natural selection. He felt that the process of natural selection explained evolution. It was also the first piece that offered a large amount of evidence to back up the theory. No other scientist was able to do such a thing therefore; they were ridiculed and laughed at. Charles Darwin is responsible for the current understanding of life and evolution. It is taught in schools and respected highly. He has changed the course of science with his theory and advanced so many minds with his discovery. Charles Darwin was a man that dedicated his live to the pursuit of science and made accomplishments like no other.

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