The best english story Charles Darwin,the orginator of the theory of organic evolution by means of natural selection was born in Shrewsbury, England of February 12,1809(on exactly the same day that Abraham Lincoln was born).At sixteen ,he entered the university of Edinburgh to study medicine,however,hes english story found both medicine and anatomy dull sub subject ,and after a while transferred to Cambridge to study for the ministry.At Cambridge ,he found such activities as riding and shooting for more agreeable than his studies. Nevertheleass english story he managed to impress one of his professor sufficiently to be recommended for the position of naturalist on the exploratory voyage of the H.M.S.Beagle.Hus father at first objects to charles accepting the appointment, felling that such a trip would simply be a futher excuse for the young man to delay setting down to serious work Fortunately,the elder . english story Darwin was persuaded to give his consent to the trip,for his was to prove one of the most rewarding oven voyages in the history of western science.
english story Darwin set sail on the beagle in 1831,at the age of twenty two .In the course of the nest five years the beagle sailed around the world, skirting the coasts of South America at a leisurely pace, exploring the lonely Galapagos islands and visiting other islands of the Pacific,the Indian ocean,and the south Atlantic , During the long course of the voyage ,Darwin saw many natural wonders visited primitive tribes, discovered large numbers of fissile,and observed an enormous number of plant and animal species.Furthermone,he took voluminous notes on everything that he observed.These notes provided the basis for almost all his later work from them ,he derved many of his principle as well as the immense wealth of evidence by which he made his therioes prevail.
Darwin returned home in 1836and over the next twenty years he published a serious of books which established his reputation as one of the leading biologist in England.As early as 1837,Darwin become continued that animals and plant species were not fixed ,but had evolved over the course of geologic history .At that time ,however ,he had no idea what might be the cause of such evolution.In 1838 however,he read an essay on the principle of population by Thomas Malthus ,and that provided him with the vital clue to his notion of natural selection through competition for survival.But even after Darwin had formulated the principal of natural selection,he did not rush to present his ideas in print.
He realized that his theory was bound to arouse a good deal of opposition and he therefore spent a long time carefully assembling the evidence and marshalling the arguments in favor of his hypothesis.He wrote as outline of his theory as early as 1842,and by 1844was Working on a full length book.However,in June 1858,when Darwin was still adding to and revising his great work ,he received a manuscript from Alfred bussel Wallace(a British naturalist who was at that time in the east undies outlining Wallace’s own theory of evolution.In every essential point Wallace’s own theory was the same as Darwin’s Wallace had developed his theory completely independently and had sent his manuscript to Darwin, I Order to obtain the opinion a d comments of an established scientists before publishing .It was an embarrassing situation,
which could Vasily have developed into an unpleasant battle I’ve priority.Insead, Wallace paper and an out line of Darwin’s book were presented as a joint paper before a scientific body the following month.Oddly enough ,that presentation did not arovse a great deal of attention.However , Darwin’s book , the origin of species, published the following years, created a firm.In fact ,it is probable taht no scientific book ever published has been so widely and vigorously discussed,by scientists and layman alike ,as on the origin of species by means of natural selection on the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.The argument were still going strong in 1871,when Darwin published the descent of man ,and selection in relation to set.that book ,which propounded the idea that man was descended from ape-like creature added still more fuel to the ragine controversy.Darwim himself took no part in the public debates on his theories.For one thing ,he had been in bad health ever since the voyage of the begle (probably the result of a recurrent ailment,Chagas ,ideas which he had contracted from insect bites in South America). Furthermore,the portisan of cvolutio possessed,in Thomas it H.Huxley a skilled be Bater and a vigorous defender of Darwin’s theories .the large majority of scientists had accepted the basic correctness of Darwin’s theories by the time he died in 1882.Darwin was not the orginator of the idea of the evolution of species; quite a few person’s had.
French naturalist Jean Lamarck and Charles own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin .But the hypothesis had never gained the acceptance of the selectific world because their proponents were unable to give convincing explanation of the means by which evolution occurred . Darwin’s great contribution was that he was able to a present not oy. Me chanism natural selection by which could occur,but also a large quantities of convincing evidence to support his hypothesis.It is worth noting that Darwin’s theory was formulated without any reliance on genetic theory or indeed,any knowledge of it.In Darwin’s day ,on one know anything about the way in which particular characteristic were passed on from one generation to the next.Although Gregor Mendel was working out the laws of heredity during the same yeas that Darwin was writing and publishing his epoch making books Mendel’s work which supplement Darwin’s so perfectly was almost totally ignored untill the year 1990,by which time Darwin’s theories were already well established.Thus our modern understanding of evolution,which combines the laws of genetic in heritance with natural selection is more complete than the theory proposed Darwin.
Darwins influence on human thought has been immense .In the purely scientific sense,of course ,he revolutionized the entire subjective of biology . Natural selection a very broad principle indeed ,and attempted have been made to apply it to many other fields ,such as anthropology, sociology, political science and economic.Even more important , perhaps,than their scientific or sociological import ,has been the impact of Darwin’s theories upon religious thought.In Darwin’s day and for many years thereafter,many devote Christian believe that the acceptance of Darwin’s theories world undermine belief in religion.Their fears were perhaps justified , although it is obvious that many other factors have played a role in general decline of religion sentiment.(Darwin himself became an agnostic)Even on a secure level.Darwins theory has caused,a great change in the way that human being think about their world .The human race as a while no longer seems to occupy the central position in the natural seheme of think that once did .We now have to regord ourselves as one species among many and we recognized the possibility that we many one day be superseded .As a result of Darwin’s work ,the is nothing of heraclitus,that “there is nothing permanent except change “has gained much wider acceptance.The success of the theory of evolution as a general explanations of the origin of man has greatly strengthened belief in the ability of science to provided answers to all physical questions (although not ,alas,to all human problems ).
The darwinianterms “the struggle for existence”and”the survival of the fittest have passed into our vocabulary.It is obvious that Darwin’s theories would have been expounded even had he never lived.In fact in view of Wallace’s work ,this is perhaps more obviously true of drawin writing which revolutionized biology and anthropology ,and which have so altered our view of moms please in the world.
