Charles Darwin year of birth. Charles Darwin and natural selection

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Charles Darwin(Fig. 22) was born on February 12, 1809 in the English city of Shrewsbury in the family of a doctor. After leaving school, he entered the medical faculty of the University of Edinburgh. However, teaching many subjects in Latin and operating on patients without anesthesia turned him away from medicine. For this reason, he left the university and, on the advice of his father, entered the theological faculty of Cambridge University. Here Darwin, not particularly keen on religious dogma, began to study natural sciences under the guidance of professors D. Hooker and A. Sedgwick and actively participated in expeditions organized by them.

Darwin returned from his trip around the world with the confidence that species can change under the influence of the external environment.

The inconstancy and variability of species were also evidenced by the scientific facts of geology, paleontology, comparative anatomy, and embryology. Despite this, many natural scientists, under the influence of the prevailing ideas of those times, citing the fact that they did not observe the transformation of one species into another, did not recognize evolution organic world. Therefore, young Darwin began his work by determining the mechanisms of the evolutionary process. He first of all studied the reasons for the diversity of domestic animals and varieties cultivated plants.

Darwin not only proved the change in the organic world, but was also the first in the history of science to give a scientifically based explanation of the origin of the fitness of organisms. Darwin emphasized that the driving forces of evolution of the organic world are heredity, variability, the struggle for existence and natural selection.

After the possibility of domesticating wild animals and domesticating wild plants, as well as changing the characteristics and properties of breeds and varieties through artificial selection, was clarified, Darwin suggested that such a process could also occur in organisms living in natural conditions. However, to substantiate this assumption, it was necessary, firstly, to study the individual variability of plants and animals living in natural conditions, and secondly, to find out the presence in nature of a certain driving factor similar to human desire. Material from the site

"Origin of Species"

Returning from his trip around the world, Darwin began studying the collected material together with famous natural scientists from England. At the same time, he studied the experience of breeding new breeds of animals and plant varieties, and also became acquainted with the works of his predecessors and contemporaries. Based on this, in 1842 he first wrote a scientific work on the evolution of the organic world, which over the next 15 years expanded, deepened and enriched with reliable facts. Finally, in 1859, he published his famous work, On the Origin of Species.

Later works

Darwin wrote a number of works, including “Variability of Domestic Animals and Cultivated Plants” (1868), “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection” (1871), “The Influence of Cross and Self-Pollination in the Plant World” (1876). In them, the scientist presented a wealth of factual material about the evolution of the organic world, outlined the results of research, views and considerations of his predecessors and contemporaries in this field.

Charles Robert Darwin is an outstanding English naturalist, naturalist, founder of Darwinism. His works devoted to the evolution of living organisms had a huge impact on the history of human thought and marked new era in the development of biology and other sciences.

Darwin was born in Shrewsbury (Shropshire) on February 12, 1809 in a fairly wealthy large family of a doctor. Members of this family were characterized by a high cultural level, intelligence, and broad outlook. In particular, Erasmus Darwin, Charles's grandfather, gained fame as a doctor, philosopher, and writer.

The boy's sincere interest in the life of nature and his penchant for collecting arose in childhood. In 1817, the mother dies, and in 1818, Charles and Erasmus, the elder brother, are sent to a local boarding school. Since 1825, Charles Darwin has been studying medicine at the University of Edinburgh. Not feeling inclined towards this profession, he abandoned his studies and, at the insistence of his angry father, entered to study as a theologian at Cambridge, although he was not completely convinced of the truth of Christian postulates. Natural inclinations, participation in the life of scientific societies, acquaintance with botanists, zoologists, geologists, excursions of a natural history orientation did their job: Charles Darwin emerged from the walls of a Christian college in 1831 as a naturalist-collector.

In this capacity, for five years (1831-1836) he took part in a trip around the world by ship, where he ended up on the recommendation of friends. During the voyage, he collected remarkable collections, and he outlined his impressions and observations in a two-volume book entitled “A Voyage Around the World on the Beagle,” which made him famous in the scientific community. Charles returned from this voyage as a formed scientist, who saw science as his only calling and meaning in life.

Returning to England, Darwin worked as secretary of the Geological Society of London (1838-1841), and in 1839 he married Emma Wedgwood, who subsequently bore him 10 children. Poor health forced him to leave the English capital in 1842 and settle on the Down estate (Kent County), with which his entire subsequent biography was connected.

Life in the lap of nature - measured and solitary, almost reclusive - was devoted to scientific works developing the theory of the evolution of organic forms. The main evolutionary factors were reflected in Darwin's main work (1859) “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” In 1868, a two-volume book entitled “Changes in Domestic Animals and Cultivated Plants”, supplementing it with factual material, was published. The third book on evolution was The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection (1871) and its subsequent companion, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), and it was here that Darwin considered the origin of man from ape-like ancestors.

With his theory of the evolution of the organic world of the Earth, which was called Darwinism, the scientist created a real sensation, splitting the scientific community into two opposing camps. His teaching was very carefully developed, was based on a huge amount of factual material, explained phenomena for which there had been no explanation before, opened up enormous research prospects, and all these factors contributed to the fact that Darwinism quickly strengthened its position.

The very personality of its creator contributed to this. According to contemporaries, Darwin was not just an exceptionally authoritative scientist, but a simple, modest, friendly, tactful person who treated even his irreconcilable opponents correctly. While serious passions were raging in the world over the theory of evolution, the main troublemaker followed the ups and downs, leading a solitary life, and continued to engage in scientific research, despite extremely poor health.

In parallel with the victorious march of Darwinism, its author became the owner of an increasing number of various regalia from scientific communities, which began with the Copley gold medal from the Royal Society of London in 1864. In 1882, the scientist who made an unprecedented scientific revolution died quietly in Down. Charles Darwin's body was taken to Westminster Abbey, where he was buried near

English Charles Robert Darwin

English naturalist and traveler

Charles Darwin

short biography

Charles Robert Darwin- outstanding English naturalist, naturalist, founder of Darwinism. His works on the evolution of living organisms had a huge impact on the history of human thought and marked a new era in the development of biology and other sciences.

Biography from Wikipedia

Charles Robert Darwin(English: Charles Robert Darwin (tʃɑrlz "dɑː.wɪn); February 12, 1809 - April 19, 1882) - English naturalist and traveler, one of the first to come to the conclusion and substantiate the idea that all types of living organisms evolve over time and descend from common ancestors. In his theory, a detailed presentation of which was published in 1859 in the book “The Origin of Species,” Darwin called natural selection the main mechanism for the evolution of species. Later he developed the theory of sexual selection. He also owns one of the first generalizing studies on the origin of man .

Darwin published one of the first works on ethology, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Other areas of his research included creating a model for the origin of coral reefs and determining the laws of heredity. Based on the results of selection experiments, Darwin put forward a hypothesis of heredity (pangenesis), which was never confirmed.

The origin of biological diversity as a result of evolution was recognized by most biologists during Darwin's lifetime, while his theory of natural selection as the main mechanism of evolution became generally accepted only in the 50s of the 20th century with the advent of the synthetic theory of evolution. Darwin's ideas and discoveries, as revised, form the foundation of the modern synthetic theory of evolution and form the basis of biology as providing an explanation of biodiversity. The term “Darwinism” is used to refer to evolutionary models that are rooted in the ideas of Darwin, and in everyday speech “Darwinism” is often referred to as evolutionary theory and the modern scientific view of evolution in general.

Childhood and adolescence

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on the family estate Mount House. The fifth of six children of wealthy physician and financier Robert Darwin and Susannah Darwin, née Wedgwood. He is the grandson of the naturalist Erasmus Darwin on his father's side and the artist Josiah Wedgwood on his mother's side. Both families were largely Unitarian, but the Wedgwoods were Church of England parishioners. Robert Darwin himself was quite open-minded and agreed that little Charles should receive communion in the Anglican Church, but at the same time, Charles and his brothers and their mother attended the Unitarian Church.

Charles's father is Robert Darwin

By the time he entered day school in 1817, the eight-year-old Darwin had already become accustomed to natural history and collecting. This year, in July, his mother dies, and the upbringing of an 8-year-old boy falls entirely on the shoulders of his father, who was not always sensitive to his son’s spiritual needs. Since September 1818, he, along with his older brother Erasmus (Erasmus Alvey Darwin), entered boarding school at the nearby Anglican School Shrewsbury School, where the future naturalist, who passionately loved nature, was supposed to study “things dry to his living soul,” like classical languages and literature. It is no wonder that he discovered a complete lack of abilities and forced his teacher and those around him to hopelessly give up on him. After a year of high school, an incapable elementary school student begins to collect collections of butterflies, minerals, and shells. Then another passion appears - hunting. His father and those around him considered these hobbies to be the main reason for Charles’s academic failure, but their frequent reproaches and even threats taught him to listen only to his own inner voice, not external instructions. Towards the end of his school life, a new hobby appeared - chemistry, and for this “empty pastime” he received a very severe reprimand from the director of the gymnasium. The high school years naturally ended with receiving a mediocre certificate.

Before going with his brother Erasmus to the University of Edinburgh in the summer of 1825, he acts as an apprentice assistant and helps his father in his medical practice, providing care to the poor of Shropshire.

Edinburgh period of life (1825-1827)

Darwin studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh. During his studies, he realized that lectures were boring and surgery was painful, so he abandoned his medical studies. Instead, he begins to study taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a freed black slave who gained his experience accompanying Charles Waterton on an expedition into the rain forests of South America, and often spoke of him, saying: "very nice and erudite person" (English: very pleasant and intelligent man).

In 1826, as a student of natural history, he joined the Plinian Student Society, which actively discussed radical materialism. During this time, he assisted Robert Edmond Grant in his studies of the anatomy and life cycle of marine invertebrates. At meetings of the society in March 1827, Darwin presented brief reports about his first discoveries, which changed his view of familiar things. In particular, he showed that the so-called bryozoan eggs Flustra have the ability to move independently using cilia and are actually larvae; he also notices that the small spherical bodies, which were considered to be young stages of algae Fucus loreus, are the egg cocoons of the proboscis leech Pontobdella muricata. One day, in Darwin's presence, Grant praised Lamarck's evolutionary ideas. Darwin was amazed at this enthusiastic speech, but remained silent. Not long before this, he had drawn similar ideas from his grandfather, Erasmus, by reading his Zoonomia, and therefore was already aware of the contradictions of this theory. During his second year in Edinburgh, Darwin took Robert Jameson's natural history course, which covered geology, including the Neptunist-Plutonist controversy. However, Darwin did not then have a passion for geological sciences, although he received sufficient training to judge the subject intelligently. That same year he studied the classification of plants and took part in working with the extensive collections at the University Museum, one of the largest museums in Europe of that period.

Cambridge period of life (1828-1831)

Darwin's father, having learned that his son had abandoned his medical studies, was annoyed and invited him to enter Christ's College, Cambridge University, and be ordained as a priest of the Church of England. According to Darwin himself, the days spent in Edinburgh sowed doubts in him about the dogmas of the Anglican Church. At this time, he diligently reads theological books, and ultimately convinces himself of the acceptability of church dogmas and prepares for admission. While studying in Edinburgh, he forgot some of the subjects required for admission, and so he studied with a private teacher in Shrewsbury and entered Cambridge after the Christmas holidays, at the very beginning of 1828.

In his own words, he did not go too deep into his studies, devoting more time to horse riding, shooting a gun and hunting (fortunately, attending lectures was voluntary). His cousin William Fox introduced him to entomology and brought him into contact with people interested in collecting insects. As a result, he develops a passion for collecting beetles. Darwin himself cites the following story to confirm his passion: “Once, while tearing off a piece of old bark from a tree, I saw two rare beetles and grabbed one of them with each hand, but then I saw a third, of some new kind, which I could not miss, and I stuck that beetle , whom he kept in right hand, in the mouth. Alas! He released some extremely caustic liquid, which burned my tongue so much that I was forced to spit out the beetle, and I lost it, as well as the third one.”. Some of his findings were published in Stevens's book Illustrations of British Entomology. "Illustrations of British entomology".

Darwin becomes a close friend and follower of botany professor John Stevens Henslow. Through his acquaintance with Henslow, he became acquainted with other leading naturalists, becoming known in their circles as “the man who walks with Henslow.” As exams approached, Darwin concentrated on his studies. At this time he is reading "Proof of Christianity"(Evidences of Christianity) by William Paley, whose language and presentation admire Darwin. At the conclusion of his studies, in January 1831, Darwin made good progress in theology, studied the classics of literature, mathematics and physics, eventually becoming 10th in the list of 178 who passed the exam.

Darwin remained in Cambridge until June. He studies Paley's work "Natural Theology"(English "Natural Theology"), in which the author makes theological arguments to explain the nature of nature, explaining adaptation as the influence of God through the laws of nature. He reads new book Herschel, who describes the highest goal of natural philosophy as the comprehension of laws through inductive reasoning, based on observations. He also pays special attention to the book by Alexander von Humboldt "Personal Narrative"(English: “Personal Narrative”), in which the author describes his travels. Humboldt's descriptions of the island of Tenerife inspired Darwin and his friends with the idea of going there, after completing their studies, to study natural history in tropical conditions. To prepare for this, he takes a geology course with the Reverend Adam Sedgwick, and then goes with him to map rocks in Wales in the summer. Two weeks later, returning from a short geological trip to North Wales, he finds a letter from Henslow, in which he recommended Darwin as a suitable person for the unpaid post of naturalist to the captain of the Beagle, Robert Fitzroy, under whose command an expedition to the shores was to begin in four weeks South America. Darwin was ready to immediately accept the offer, but his father objected to this kind of adventure, because he believed that a five-year voyage was nothing more than a waste of time. But the timely intervention of Uncle Charles Josiah Wedgwood II persuades the father to agree.

Naturalist's Voyage on the Beagle (1831-1836)

Bye Beagle was photographing the coastline of South America, Darwin began to theorize about the natural wonders that surrounded him

In 1831, after graduating from university, Darwin set off as a naturalist on a trip around the world on the Royal Navy expedition ship Beagle, from where he returned to England only on October 2, 1836. The journey lasted almost five years. Darwin spends most of his time ashore, studying geology and collecting natural history collections, while the Beagle, under the leadership of Fitzroy, carried out hydrographic and cartographic surveys of the coast. During the trip, he carefully records his observations and theoretical calculations. From time to time, whenever the opportunity presented itself, Darwin sent copies of the notes to Cambridge, together with letters including copies individual parts his diary, for relatives. During the trip, he made a number of descriptions of the geology of various areas, collected a collection of animals, and also made a brief description external structure and the anatomy of many marine invertebrates. In other areas in which Darwin was ignorant, he proved himself to be a skilled collector, collecting specimens for specialist study. Despite frequent cases of poor health associated with seasickness, Darwin continued his research on board the ship; Most of his notes on zoology were about marine invertebrates, which he collected and described during times of calm at sea. During his first stop off the coast of Santiago, Darwin discovers an interesting phenomenon - volcanic rocks with shells and corals, baked under the influence of the high temperature of the lava into a solid white breed. Fitzroy gives him the first volume of “Principles of Geology” by Charles Lyell, where the author formulates the concepts of uniformitarianism in the interpretation of geological changes over a long period. And the very first studies carried out by Darwin on Santiago on the Cape Verde Islands showed the superiority of the method used by Lyell. Darwin subsequently adopted and used Lyell's approach for theorizing and thinking when writing books on geology.

At Punta Alta in Patagonia, he makes an important discovery. Darwin discovers a fossilized giant extinct mammal. The importance of the find is emphasized by the fact that the remains of this animal were located in the rocks next to the shells modern species shellfish, which indirectly indicates a recent extinction, without signs of climate change or disaster. He identifies the find as an obscure megatherium, with a bony shell that, to his first impression, looked like a giant version of the local armadillo. This find generated enormous interest when it reached the shores of England. During a trip with local gauchos into the interior of the country to describe geology and collect fossil remains, he acquires an understanding of the social, political and anthropological aspects of the interaction between indigenous peoples and colonists during the period of the revolution. He also notes that the two species of rhea ostrich have different but overlapping ranges. Moving further south, he discovers stepped plains lined with pebbles and mollusk shells, like marine terraces, reflecting a series of land uplifts. Reading Lyell's second volume, Darwin accepts his view of the "centers of creation" of species, but his findings and reflections lead him to question Lyell's ideas about the persistence and extinction of species.

On board were three Fuegians who had been taken to England during the last expedition of the Beagle around February 1830. They had spent a year in England and were now returned to Tierra del Fuego as missionaries. Darwin found these people friendly and civilized, while their fellow tribesmen looked like “wretched, degraded savages,” just as domestic and wild animals differed from each other. For Darwin, these differences primarily demonstrated the meaning of cultural superiority, but not racial inferiority. Unlike his learned friends, he now thought that there was no insurmountable gap between man and animals. A year later, this mission was abandoned. The Fuegian, who was named Jimmy Button, began to live the same way as other Aborigines: he had a wife and had no desire to return to England.

In Chile, Darwin witnessed a strong earthquake and saw signs indicating that the earth had just risen. This uplifted layer included bivalve shells that were above the high tide level. High in the Andes, he also discovered mollusk shells and several species of fossil trees that typically grow on sandy beaches. His theoretical reflections led him to the conclusion that, just as when land uplifts, shells end up high in the mountains, when parts of the seabed are lowered, ocean islands go under water, and at the same time, barrier reefs and then atolls are formed around the islands from coastal coral reefs.

In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin noticed that some members of the mockingbird family were different from those in Chile and were different from each other on different islands. He also heard that the shells of land turtles vary slightly in shape, indicating their island of origin.

The marsupial kangaroo rats and platypus he saw in Australia seemed so strange that it made Darwin think that at least two creators were working simultaneously to create this world. He found the Aborigines of Australia to be "courteous and nice" and noted their rapid decline in numbers under the pressure of European colonization.

The Beagle is exploring the atolls of the Cocos Islands in order to determine the mechanisms of their formation. The success of this research was largely determined by Darwin's theoretical thinking. Fitzroy began to write the official presentation Beagle's voyage, and after reading Darwin's diary, he suggests including it in the report.

During his journey, Darwin visited the island of Tenerife, the Cape Verde Islands, the coast of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Tierra del Fuego, Tasmania and the Cocos Islands, from where he brought a large number of observations. He presented the results in the works “Diary of a Naturalist’s Research” ( The Journal of a Naturalist, 1839), “Zoology of the voyage on the ship Beagle” ( Zoology of the Voyage on the Beagle, 1840), “Structure and distribution of coral reefs” ( The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, 1842) etc. One of the interesting natural phenomena, first described by Darwin in the scientific literature, were ice crystals of a special form, penitentes, formed on the surface of glaciers in the Andes.

Darwin and Fitzroy

Before setting off on his journey, Darwin met with Fitzroy. Subsequently, the captain recalled this meeting and said that Darwin was at very serious risk of being rejected because of the shape of his nose. Being an adherent of Lavater's doctrine, he believed that there was a connection between a person's character and his physical features, and therefore he doubted that a person with such a nose as Darwin could have had the energy and determination sufficient to make the journey. Despite the fact that “Fitzroy had a most intolerable temper,” “he possessed many noble traits: he was faithful to his duty, extremely generous, courageous, decisive, possessed of indomitable energy and was a sincere friend of all who were under his command.” Darwin himself notes that the captain’s attitude towards him was very good, “but it was difficult to get along with this man with the closeness that was inevitable for us, who dined at the same table with him in his cabin. We quarreled several times, because, falling into irritation, he completely lost the ability to reason.” Nevertheless, there were serious differences between them based on political views. Fitzroy was a staunch conservative, a defender of black slavery, and encouraged the colonial policy of the English government. Being a deeply religious man, a supporter of church dogma, Fitzroy was unable to understand Darwin's doubts on the issue of the immutability of species. Subsequently, he was indignant at Darwin for “publishing such a blasphemous book as Origin of species».

Scientific activity after return

In 1838-1841. Darwin was secretary of the Geological Society of London. He got married in 1839, and in 1842 the couple moved from London to Down (Kent), where they began to live permanently. Here Darwin led a solitary and measured life as a scientist and writer.

Darwin's main scientific works

Early works (before Origin of Species)

Shortly after his return, Darwin published a book known under the abbreviated title A Naturalist's Voyage Around the World on the HMS Beagle (1839). It was a great success, and the second, expanded edition (1845) was translated into many European languages and reprinted many times. Darwin also took part in writing the five-volume monograph “Zoology of Travel” (1842). As a zoologist, Darwin chose barnacles as the object of his study, and soon became the world's best expert on this group. He wrote and published a four-volume monograph “Barnacles” ( Monograph on the Cirripedia, 1851-1854), which zoologists still use today.

The history of the writing and publication of “The Origin of Species”

Since 1837, Darwin began keeping a diary, in which he entered data on breeds of domestic animals and plant varieties, as well as ideas about natural selection. In 1842 he wrote the first essay on the origin of species. Beginning in 1855, Darwin corresponded with the American botanist A. Gray, to whom two years later he outlined his ideas. Under the influence of the English geologist and naturalist Charles Lyell, in 1856 Darwin began preparing a third, expanded version of the book. In June 1858, when the work was half completed, I received a letter from the English naturalist A.R. Wallace with the manuscript of the latter’s article. In this article, Darwin discovered an abbreviated statement of his own theory of natural selection. Two naturalists independently and simultaneously developed identical theories. Both were influenced by T. R. Malthus's work on population; both were aware of Lyell's views, both studied the fauna, flora and geological formations of island groups and discovered significant differences between the species inhabiting them. Darwin sent Lyell Wallace's manuscript along with his own essay, as well as sketches of his second draft (1844) and a copy of his letter to A. Gray (1857). Lyell turned to the English botanist Joseph Hooker for advice, and on July 1, 1858, they together presented both works to the Linnean Society in London. In 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life ( On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life), where he showed the variability of plant and animal species, their natural origin from earlier species. The first edition of 1,250 copies was completely sold out within two days. The book is still being published and sold today.

Later works (after Origin of Species)

In 1868, Darwin published his second work on the subject of evolution, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestic Conditions ( The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication), which included many examples of the evolution of organisms. In 1871, another important work of Darwin appeared - “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection” ( The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relationship to Sex), where Darwin argued for the natural descent of man from animals (ape-like ancestors). Darwin's other famous late works include Pollination in the Orchids Fertilization of Orchids, 1862); "The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals" ( The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, 1872); "The effect of cross-pollination and self-pollination in the plant world" ( The Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilization in the Vegetable Kingdom, 1876).

Darwin and religion

Charles Darwin came from a nonconformist Unitarian background. Although some members of his family openly rejected traditional religious beliefs, he himself did not initially question the literal truth of the Bible. He went to an Anglican school, then studied Anglican theology at Cambridge with a view to becoming a pastor, and was completely convinced by William Paley's teleological argument that intelligent structure as seen in nature proved the existence of God. However, his faith began to waver during the voyage on the Beagle. Darwin questioned these ideas, marveling, for example, at the beautiful deep-sea creatures living in such depths where no one could enjoy their appearance; shuddering at the sight of a wasp paralyzing the caterpillars, which should serve as living food for its larvae. In the last example, he saw a clear contradiction to Paley’s ideas about an all-good world order. While traveling on the Beagle, Darwin still held quite orthodox views and could well refer to the authority of the Bible in matters of morality, but gradually began to view the creation concept as false and not worthy of trust: “... came to the realization that the Old Testament from its the obvious false history of the world, with its Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign of the covenant, etc., etc., ... is no more trustworthy than the sacred books of the Hindus or the beliefs of some savage.”

Upon his return, he began collecting evidence of species variability. He knew that his religious naturalist friends regarded such views as heresy, undermining miraculous explanations of the social order, and he knew that such revolutionary ideas would be particularly inhospitably received at a time when the position of the Church of England was under fire from radical dissenters and atheists. While developing his theory of natural selection in secret, Darwin even wrote about religion as a tribal survival strategy, believing in God as a supreme being who determined the laws of this world. His faith gradually weakened over time and, with the death of his daughter Annie in 1851, Darwin finally lost all faith in Christianity. He continued to support the local church and help parishioners in general affairs, but on Sundays, when the whole family went to church, he went for a walk. Later, when asked about his religious views, Darwin wrote that he had never been an atheist, in the sense of not denying the existence of God, and that, in general, "it would be more correct to describe my state of mind as an agnostic."

Along with this, some of Darwin's statements can be regarded as deistic or atheistic. Thus, the sixth edition of The Origin of Species (1872) ends with the words in the spirit of deism: “There is greatness in this view, according to which life with its various manifestations was originally breathed into one or a limited number of forms by the Creator; and, while our planet continues to revolve, according to the unchangeable laws of gravity, from such a simple beginning an infinite number of the most beautiful and most amazing forms have developed and continue to develop.” At the same time, Darwin noted that the idea of an intelligent creator as the first cause “was strongly in my possession about the time when I wrote the Origin of Species, but it was from that time that its significance for me began, extremely slowly and not without many hesitations, to become more and more and weaken more." Darwin's statements in his letter to Hooker (1868) can be regarded as atheistic: “... I do not agree that the article is correct, I find it monstrous to say that religion is not directed against science... but when I say that it is wrong, I am by no means sure would it not be wisest for men of science to completely ignore the whole field of religion.” In his Autobiography, Darwin wrote: “Thus little by little disbelief crept into my soul, and at last I became a complete unbeliever. But this happened so slowly that I did not feel any grief and have never since even for a single second doubted the correctness of my conclusion. And indeed, I am hardly able to understand how anyone could want the Christian teaching to be true; for if it is so, then the plain text [of the Gospel] seems to show that people who do not believe - and among them one would have to include my father, my brother and almost all my best friends - will suffer eternal punishment. Disgusting doctrine!

Charles Darwin was drawn to biology from childhood. Whatever he undertook: medicine or theology, everywhere he received tips in the area that interested him most. His greatest work on the origin of species - the result of many years of work and study of the nature of humans, animals and plants, has become monumental for subsequent generations of scientists

Childhood and school

Charles Darwin was born into a very wealthy family. His father was a major financier and doctor, so the boy’s childhood was very cloudless. He was the fifth child of six born. One of Charles' grandfathers was also a scientist - naturalist Erasmus Darwin is his dad's father. Another grandfather was a very famous artist.

The Darwin family treated religious issues quite easily; his father had very open views on these topics: the children took communion in the Anglican Church, and then went to mass in the Unitarian church, where their mother took them.

Since he grew up in a family of scientists, he learned the basics of biology and botany from childhood.

At the age of eight, he went to day school, and at that time he was already interested in collecting and natural sciences. In the same year, his mother dies and all the worries about the six children fall on the father, who was quite far from raising children.

Therefore, in the fall of 1818, Charles and his older brother were sent to study at the first school they came across. The father immediately decides that the children will be at school all the time, not returning home either for lunch or on weekends. But this was far from the main problem. Charles was interested in natural sciences, and at school they emphasized literature. He had to study several languages and read classical manuscripts. Therefore, Charles is perceived as a mediocre student - teachers do not pay much attention to what he does during and after lessons. Taking advantage of his freedom, he begins to collect collections of minerals, shells and butterflies. A few years later, he takes up more “adult” hobbies - hunting and chemistry. The teachers were not too happy with this behavior, but no one dared to blame Charles. At the end of school, he was simply given a diploma with very mediocre grades, and with that they said goodbye to the strange pupil.

Tossing between sciences

During the summer holidays, in the break between school and entering the university, Charles also willingly helped his father in his medical practice - together they supported the poor of their hometown: they treated them for various diseases and injuries.

In 1825, Charles entered the University of Edinburgh. This time he is going to study medicine. But even here he becomes bored and uninteresting. “Surgery brings only pain and suffering to all living things!” - Darwin decides and after two years he quits his studies. Instead, he again finds himself a strange hobby - taxidermy. From a former black slave, he learns the basics of making stuffed animals and at the same time is surprised by the peculiarities of physiology different types animals.

But in 1826, while studying natural history, he becomes acquainted with many interesting theories of that time. In particular, he is fascinated by the ideas of radical materialism. Having become interested in the theory of evolution, the basics of which were introduced to him by his grandfather, Darwin himself made small discoveries in the animal world.

In the second year of his studies, he becomes interested in geology, communicates with plutonists and neptunists, but does not last long - soon the passion for geology subsides, although the accumulated knowledge in this area will still be useful to him.

Having learned that his son has completely abandoned his studies in Edinburgh, his father invites him to become a priest. To do this, Charles enters the church school at Cambridge University. But theology does not attract Darwin as much as reading the classics used to. Therefore, he skips lectures and instead starts communicating with entomologists, horse riding and shooting a gun.

In preparation for his exams, Charles reads a lot of books on theology. Among them, he was very interested in “Natural Theology.” It talks about adaptation as God's providence. In addition, he met many famous scientists who later greatly influenced his life. Among them was professor of botany John Henslow. It was he who told him a lot about the development of plant species.

Expedition and first work

Among Darwin's favorite authors at that time was Alexander von Humboldt. His book “Personal Narrative” captivated Charles so much that he decided to go on a trip around the world with his friends, in particular to the island of Tenerife described in the book.

Here Professor Henslow helped him a little. He recommended that the captain of the Beagle take Darwin as an assistant on an expedition to South America. The journey was supposed to last five years.

During the expedition, Darwin wrote a lot about the climate and geography of the lands he saw; he sent some of his observations to relatives and friends, and some to Cambridge for publication. In addition, he begins to collect a collection of sea animals.

While in Patagonia, he discovers huge fossils of an unknown mammal. After making some calculations, Darwin concludes that the species disappeared quite recently, and most likely the animal looked like a huge sloth.

While in Chile, the Beagle crew witnessed a volcanic eruption. Charles, in turn, saw with his own eyes the tectonic changes that occurred in just a few days.

After returning to Great Britain, Darwin wrote a number of works based on what he saw and began work as secretary of the Geological Society of London.

In 1839 he married and had ten children with his cousin Emma Wedgwood.

And in 1840-1842 his works were published: The Journal of a Naturalist, Zoology of the Voyage on the Beagle and The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs.

In 1847, he and his wife moved from London to the town of Down, in Kent. It was there that he wrote his most famous work, On the Origin of Species.

Darwin's greatest work

Since 1837, Charles kept a diary in which he recorded his thoughts on varieties of various plants and breeds of domestic animals. In these records, he tried to understand what was the primary source of such a diversity of flora and fauna.

In 1842, his first essay on this topic was published. The scientist’s theory attracted the interest of his colleagues around the world. Thus, he began to correspond with the American scientist Ace Gray, the Englishmen Charles Lyell and Alfred Wallace. With the help of these and other naturalists, he wrote “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life,” which was first published in 1859.

The first edition sold out in just two days, although a record 1,250 copies were published at that time.

Nine years later, Darwin published another of his works, no less important than the previous one - “Changes in Animals and Plants in the Domestic State”, and in 1871 - “The Descent of Man and Sexual Selection”, where he first outlined his theory of ape-like animals as direct ancestors person.

Charles Darwin died on April 19, 1882 in Down. The body of the great scientist was buried in Westminster Abbey

Of Darwin's ten children, three died in early childhood. The scientist believed that the reason was his close relationship with his wife. This theory became his scientific work.
Before he got married, he wrote a list with pros and cons. And he made a decision only after a deep analysis of his motivation.
A number of animals and plants, volcanic craters and cities are named after Darwin.
Darwin took an honorable fourth place among the greatest Britons.
Charles Darwin received 4 thousand votes in the elections to the US Congress in November 1912 in Georgia

Titles and awards

1853 - Royal medal.
1859 - Wollaston Medal
1864 – Copley Medal

Charles Robert Darwin (February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882) was an English traveler and naturalist. Darwin is the founder of many biological theories, the main ones being the theory of the origin of man on Earth and the hypothesis of evolution, where Charles stated the common ancestors of modern people, who replaced and adapted over millions of years. Darwin later proved another theory - about sexual selection.

Childhood

Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12 in the small town of Shrewsbury, located in the county of Shropshire, into a large but very wealthy family. Charles was the fifth of six children, so parental attention and was partially deprived of affection.

His father, Robert Darwin, was a famous doctor in the town, who later retrained as a very talented financier. His mother, Suzanne Darwin, came from an aristocratic family, so young Charles was half of noble blood. Many bibliographers believe that Darwin received his love of naturalism and travel from his paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, who, as a young and promising scientist, often visited other countries in search of new ideas for inventions.

Darwin's family was quite religious. Despite the fact that the boy's parents were Unitarians, Robert Darwin never forbade his sons and daughters from attending the Anglican Church. According to Darwin’s own notes, his father was quite free-minded, so strict religious traditions in their family had a rather formal side.

In 1817, young Darwin was sent to day school, where the main emphasis was on the study of classical languages and literature. However, from the very first days it becomes clear that the boy is absolutely uninterested in “things that are dry for his living soul,” which is why the first problems with upbringing begin.

In the same year, Charles’s mother suddenly dies, as a result of which the responsibility for raising and caring for the children falls entirely on the shoulders of the father, who never seriously took care of the children, leaving these concerns to his wife. Unable and partly unwilling to understand Charles's spiritual world, his father sends him and his older brother Erasmus to Shrewsbury School - English educational institution boarding school, where boys must continue their studies in the philological field.

But no matter how hard his father tries to instill in Charles a love of languages, he not only does not want to learn it, but also begins to rebel: he runs away from lessons, drives school teachers into hysterics and, ultimately, receives complete indifference to his person on their part. However, this absolutely does not prevent young talent from doing what he really wants to do. At first he is interested in botany, collecting various plants and herbs. Then he switches to collecting butterflies and minerals. After another six months, Charles becomes interested in hunting, which completely discourages his father from establishing a good relationship with his own son. As a result, they begin to threaten him with punishment, if only the young man finally graduated from boarding school and received a certificate.

Youth

As soon as his studies at the boarding school come to its logical conclusion, Charles teams up with his older brother and moves to Edinburgh, where he enters the local university to study medicine. Together with other gifted students and under the guidance of experienced professors, Darwin performs a series of surgical operations and even for a while begins to seriously think about a career in this field, but two months later the operations become boring for him and he gives up surgery.

After this, Charles Darwin attended Robert Jameson's lectures on geology, despite the fact that he himself was not very fond of the field. At the same time, he continues to study biology and even forms several independent theories. One day he witnesses a dialogue between Robert Edmond Grant and his colleague, during which the former seriously praised Lamarck's ideas and theories about the origin of life on Earth. Darwin was so impressed by the speech, although he remained aloof from the dialogue, that he continued to study this topic, subsequently coming to phenomenal conclusions.

By 1827, Darwin's father discovered the fact that his son had long abandoned medicine and surgery, again becoming interested in collecting and hunting. In an effort to make him a famous and wealthy person, his father invites Charles to enter Christ's College, Cambridge University, so that in the future he will have the opportunity to be ordained a priest. At first, the young man doubts the correctness of his choice, because, being a physician and biologist, he has more than once encountered contradictions in canons and dogmas. But his father managed to insist on his own and in 1828 Darwin entered Cambridge.

Career

As expected, Darwin's training began to go differently than his father had planned. The young and talented naturalist did not like religious norms of behavior, so, in his own words, Charles quickly abandoned his studies and “switched” to collecting beetles and hunting. Thanks to Cambridge, he was able to meet many prominent naturalists and biology professors, some of whom became his idols at long years. Among his closest and dearest friends he counted the leading professor of botany, John Stevens Henslow, who put a lot of effort into teaching his ward.

By 1831, Charles Darwin, having graduated from Cambridge University, finally realized that he wanted to be a naturalist. By that time, almost everyone already knows about the talented guy, so when an expedition to South America begins, carried out on the Beagle ship, Darwin is immediately notified. This is how it begins new life and, most importantly, the beginning of a spectacular career as a traveler and naturalist.

Darwin spends five long years on the expedition. During this time, he landed on the shores of various islands more than once, collected geological materials, drew up maps, and made short notes about the local flora and fauna. He diligently divides all the collected information into categories and, if possible, sends it to Cambridge and relatives, showing the results of his activities. Separately, Charles Darwin manages to collect a unique and large collection plants and insects that he finds in Patagonia, Punta Alta, the Galapagos and other islands.

Returning from a trip in 1836, Darwin decides that it is time to write his own book, where he can detail all the adventures and attach the results of his research. This is how a book called “A Naturalist’s Voyage Around the World on the Beagle” was born, which was published in 1839. It receives recognition from the general public, as well as from many leading zoologists, since Darwin's research at that time was valuable and unique.

After the success of the first book, Charles began writing a multi-volume book on the origin of species. Thanks to the numerous records and notes that he was able to collect during his trip to South America, he comes to the conclusion that each species has changed significantly over many millions of years, despite the fact that it left behind its roots. Thus, Darwin was able to formulate and later prove the theory of the evolutionary origin of species, which was described in detail in his book “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.” By the way, the book became so popular that it spread throughout the world, making Darwin famous, and continues to be sold to this day.

Personal life

Unlike his friends, who married and divorced in their youth, for Charles Darwin marriage was a very serious topic that had to be approached with all reasonableness. There is a version that a piece of paper was found in Darwin’s papers, on which the naturalist and traveler seriously compiled a list of how marriage could be useful and useless. The sheet listed about forty points that confirmed or, conversely, refuted the desire to get married.

However, below the calculations, Charles underlined the word “marry” three times.
In 1839, he married Emmy Wedgwood, his own cousin, with whom he had ten children (three died in infancy). At first the couple lives in London, but in their old age they move to Kent, where Darwin buys a huge house for his family.

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