Charles Darwin is famous for his theory of evaluation natural selection, which he developed from observations made during his voyage on the HMS Beagle. His influential book, On the Origin of Species (1859), presented the idea that species change over time and share a common ancestor, a concept that revolutionized biology and challenged long-held religious beliefs. 

Charles Darwin shares his birthday with Abraham Lincoln, had a taste for exotic foods and married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood

And was also born on 12 February 1809

Galápagos Islands: During his time in the Galápagos Islands, Darwin noted variations in species such as finches, which led him to theorize that these birds had adapted to different environments and food sources.

Natural Selection: Darwin's theory of natural selection suggests that individuals with traits better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those advantageous traits to the next generation.

Publication Impact: "On the Origin of Species" was initially met with controversy and resistance, particularly from religious groups. However, it eventually gained widespread acceptance and is considered a cornerstone of modern biology.

Other Works: In addition to "On the Origin of Species," Darwin wrote several other influential books, including "The Descent of Man," which explored human evolution, and "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals."

Legacy: Darwin's ideas have had a lasting impact on various fields, including genetics, ecology, and anthropology. His work continues to be relevant in discussions about evolution and biodiversity.

Death: Darwin passed away on April 19, 1882, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, a testament to his significant contributions to science.

After leaving Sedgwick in Wales, Darwin spent a few days with student friends at Barmouth. He returned home on 29 August to find a letter from Henslow proposing him as a suitable (if unfinished) naturalist for a self-funded supernumerary place on HMS Beagle with captain Robert FitzRoy, a position for a gentleman rather than "a mere collector". The ship was to leave in four weeks on an expedition to chart the coastline of South America.^[43][44] Robert Darwin objected to his son's planned two-year voyage, regarding it as a waste of time, but was persuaded by his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood II, to agree to (and fund) his son's participation.^[45] Darwin took care to remain in a private capacity to retain control over his collection, intending it for a major scientific institution.^[46]

Charles Darwin and his wife Emma Wedgwood had 10 children, seven of whom reached adulthood. Three were elected fellows of the prestigious Royal Society scientific club and three were knighted—an honor not even Charles received

Charles Darwin died from a heart attack and sadly his family had to greef

Emma Darwin with Charles Waring Darwin

Charles Waring Darwin, born in December 1856, was the tenth and last of the children. Emma Darwin was aged 48 at the time of the birth, and the child was mentally subnormal and never learnt to walk or talk. He probably had Down syndrome, which had not then been medically described. The evidence is a photograph by William Erasmus Darwin of the infant and his mother, showing a characteristic head shape, and the family's observations of the child.^[194] Charles Waring died of scarlet fever on 28 June 1858,^[195] when Darwin wrote in his journal: "Poor dear Baby died."^[196]

Of his surviving children, George, Francis and Horacebecame Fellows of the Royal Society,^[197] distinguished as an astronomer,^[198]botanist and civil engineer, respectively. All three were knighted.^[199] Another son, Leonard, went on to be a soldier, politician, economist, eugenicist, and mentor of the statistician and evolutionary biologist Ronald Fisher.^[200]

Born: 12 February 1809, The Mount House, Shrewsbury

Died: 19 April 1882 (age 73 years), Home of Charles Darwin - Down House, Downe

Awards: Copley Medal, Wollaston Medal, Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal Medal

Influenced: Sigmund Freud, Francis Darwin, Richard Dawkins · See more

Education: Christ's College Cambridge(1828–1831)

but do we know for a fact that he was correct

Answer we probably don’t have a clue

But we still live to this this very day even when he died which was in 1882

As Darwin worked under pressure, his health suffered. On 20 September, he had "an uncomfortable palpitation of the heart", so his doctors urged him to "knock off all work" and live in the country for a few weeks. After visiting Shrewsbury, he joined his Wedgwood relatives at Maer Hall, Staffordshire, but found them too eager for tales of his travels to give him much rest. His charming, intelligent, and cultured cousin Emma Wedgwood, nine months older than Darwin, was nursing his invalid aunt. His uncle Josiah pointed out an area of ground where cinders had disappeared under loam. Darwin suggested that this might have been the work of earthworms, inspiring "a new & important theory" on their role in soil formation, which he presented at the Geological Society on 1 November 1837.^[95] His Journalwas printed and ready for publication by the end of February 1838, as was the first volume of the Narrative, but FitzRoy was still working hard to finish

This is his wife marry pranouced Mary

Born: 12 February 1809, The Mount House, Shrewsbury

Died: 19 April 1882 (age 73 years), Home of Charles Darwin - Down House, Downe

Awards: Copley Medal, Wollaston Medal, Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal Medal

Influenced: Sigmund Freud, Francis Darwin, Richard Dawkins · See more

Education: Christ's College Cambridge(1828–1831)

Thomas Malthus had argued that population growth beyond resources was ordained by God to get humans to work productively and show restraint in getting families; this was used in the 1830s to justify workhouses and laissez-faire economics.^[218]Evolution was by then seen as having social implications, and Herbert Spencer's 1851 book Social Statics based ideas of human freedom and individual liberties on his Lamarckian evolutionary theory.^[219]

Soon after the Origin was published in 1859, critics derided his description of a struggle for existence as a Malthusian justification for the English industrial capitalism of the time. The term Darwinism was used for the evolutionary ideas of others, including Spencer's "survival of the fittest" as free-market progress, and Ernst Haeckel's polygenistic ideas of human development. Writers used natural selection to argue for various, often contradictory, ideologies such as laissez-faire dog-eat-dog capitalism, colonialism and imperialism. However, Darwin's holistic view of nature included "dependence of one being on another"; thus pacifists, socialists, liberal social reformers and anarchists such as Peter Kropotkin stressed the value of cooperation over struggle within a species.^[220] Darwin himself insisted that social policy should not simply be guided by concepts of struggle and selection in nature.^[221]

Fun fact: THE MAN WHO PILOTED THE SHIP THAT DARWIN SAILED ON (the HMS beagle) WAS CAPTAIN FITZROY THE MAN WHO ASLO FOUND JEMMY BUTTON

A bust of Darwin by Joseph Echteler

After the 1880s, the eugenics movement developed on ideas of biological inheritance, and for scientific justification of their ideas appealed to some concepts of Darwinism. In Britain, most shared Darwin's cautious views on voluntary improvement and sought to encourage those with good traits in "positive eugenics". During the "Eclipse of Darwinism", a scientific foundation for eugenics was provided by Mendelian genetics. Negative eugenics to remove the "feebleminded" was popular across the political spectrum in the United States, Canada and Australia. Belief in negative eugenics led to the introduction of compulsory sterilisation laws in the United States, followed by several other countries. Subsequently, Nazi eugenics brought the field into disrepute.^[VII]

The term "Social Darwinism" was used infrequently from around the 1890s, but became popular as a derogatory term in the 1940s when used by Richard Hofstadter to attack the laissez-faire conservatism of those like William Graham Sumner who opposed reform and socialism. Since then, it has been used as a term of abuse by those opposed to what they think are the moral consequences of evolution.^[222][218]

Works

Further information: Charles Darwin bibliography

Darwin was a prolific writer. Even without the publication of his works on evolution, he would have had a considerable reputation as the author of The Voyage of the Beagle, as a geologist who had published extensively on South America and had solved the puzzle of the formation of coral atolls, and as a biologist who had published the definitive work on barnacles. While On the Origin of Speciesdominates perceptions of his work, The Descent of Man and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals had considerable impact, and his books on plants including The Power of Movement in Plants were innovative studies of great importance, as was his final work on The Formation of Vegetable Mould through the Action of Worms.^[223][224]

Legacy and commemoration

Further information: List of things named after Charles Darwin, List of taxa described by Charles Darwin, and Commemoration of Charles Darwin

Unveiling in 1897 of the Darwin Statue at the former Shrewsbury School building where he had studied

As Alfred Russel Wallace put it, Darwin had "wrought a greater revolution in human thought within a quarter of a century than any man of our time – or perhaps any time", having "given us a new conception of the world of life, and a theory which is itself a powerful instrument of research; has shown us how to combine into one consistent whole the facts accumulated by all the separate classes of workers, and has thereby revolutionised the whole study of nature".^[225] The paleoanthropologist Trenton Holliday states that "Darwin is rightly considered to be the preeminent evolutionary scientist of all time".^[226]

This is Charles Darwin last words before he went