Charles Darwin: biography of this famous English naturalist

The name of Charles Darwin is not only known, but is part of popular culture. His vision of how species have changed throughout their natural history was a true scientific revolution, at the height of the Copernican.

Born and raised in England, Darwin, whether in his earliest childhood or in his college years, never He would have come to think that, despite having attended ecclesiastical studies, he would manage to make an enemy of fervent believers.

The life of the English naturalist is long and interesting. Let's embark, as he did aboard the Beagle, on this journey through his personal history through a biography of Charles Darwin with the main milestones of his career.

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Short Biography of Charles Darwin

The long life of Charles Darwin, member of an influential family of doctors and cousin of the originator of eugenics, Francis Galton, is rich in fascinating events, which led him to postulate about natural selection and the origin of species.

After all, the life of Charles Darwin is one of the most interesting in the history of science. It is about a man with profound religious beliefs who traveled a good part of the planet to document new species and ended up making a discovery. that would give way to Biology as we know it, and dealing a hard blow against several of the dogmas held at that time by the Christianity. Let's look at his biography.

Early years

Charles Robert Darwin was born in Sherewsbury, England, on February 12, 1809. Medicine and the natural sciences ran in the family, since his father, Robert Waring Darwin, and his paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, were famous for their efficient performance in this profession.

Already from his childhood, Charles Darwin showed his taste for natural history, which he demonstrated through his great fondness for collecting things like shells and minerals. His soul as a systematic naturalist was visible.

In 1825 Darwin He entered the University of Edinburgh where, due to parental pressure, he would begin his studies in medicine, in order to continue with the family lineage of prominent doctors, however, Darwin already showed signs that this was not going with him.

From the phonendoscope to the Bible

Not only was his lack of interest in medicine evident, but also his lack of vocation. When young Charles had to see a surgical operation, he could not bear them. They were a truly traumatic event for him. That is why Darwin, at that time, he began to convince himself that he could live off his father's inheritance, that he could have a comfortable life without practicing the profession of medicine.

Obviously, this collided with the plans of his father Robert, who was not going to allow his son to become a playboy. For this reason, and after having passed two medical courses, he proposed to his son that he study ecclesiastical studies.

So that, Charles Darwin began his ecclesiastical studies at Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1828.. Ironic as he may sound, Darwin gladly started his new career, despite the fact that several years later his findings on how living beings change would be a real scandal and even a sample of heresy.

Despite the fact that his training as a rural clergyman attracted a little more attention than being a doctor, his interest in studying was rather scarce. Darwin preferred to pursue hunting and horseback riding, and as time passed, he developed a fondness for painting and music.

But, although little interested in the studies that he was forced to attend, Darwin did not miss the opportunity to attend, on a voluntary basis, the Reverend John Henslow's botany classes, a fact that was a real scientific opportunity for young Charles. Henslow would become a figure of utmost importance in Darwin's life.

Upon completion of his studies at Christ’s College in 1831, at the recommendation of Henslow, Darwin delved into geology. At that time he would meet Adam Sedgwick, founder of the Cambrian system. Darwin would accompany Sedgwick to carry out an expedition to North Wales.

But it was not only Henslow who helped Darwin set out for the expedition in Wales. It would be this reverend who would provide him with the opportunity to embark as a naturalist aboard the Beagle, along with Captain Robert Fitzroy.

Darwin's father flatly refused to allow his son to go around the world. He considered the idea to be very far-fetched, and that he would only allow it if someone with common sense agreed with him embarking on the ship. That someone was Darwin's uncle, Josiah Wedgwood, who, over the years, would become his father-in-law.

Voyage on the Beagle

December 27, 1831 would be the key date that would mark the beginning of Darwin's scientific life. It was that day that The Beagle sailed from Davenport Harbor with young Charles on board.

A curious fact about all this is that Darwin came very close to not being able to travel in it, not because he did not want to, but because Captain Fitzroy, who was a supporter of physiognomic theories postulated by the Swiss priest Johann Caspar Lavater, estimated that Darwin's nose did not reveal the energy or determination to tackle such travel.

The objective of the trip, beyond Darwin's wishes to know all kinds of exotic species, was to complete a topographic study of the territories of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, in addition to tracing the coasts of Chile, Peru and the Pacific islands. The trip lasted almost five years and took Darwin to see the coasts of South America, the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, Oceania and South Africa.

The study of geology was the most important factor by which Darwin had embarked on such a feat, although he also liked to collect some birds and other animals that he hunted while in the islands of the New World.

While traveling, Darwin would be the author of several scientific achievements, including that of a theory about the formation of coral reefs, in addition to geologically structuring some islands, such as Santa Elena.

It was also during this trip that Darwin would see, being in the Galapagos Islands, that his flora and fauna resembled that of South America, but, in turn, specimens of what looked like the same species changed from island to island.

This led Darwin to think that the traditional theory that species did not change, that they were stable and unchangeable, was something that could be criticized. It was clear that what he had seen were related animals but that, due to environmental factors, they had changed in order to continue living in a specific environment.

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Return to england

Charles Darwin would return to his native England on October 2, 1836. The trip, for better or for worse, had marked him. His knowledge of nature had increased, but he also suffered from health problems, probably caused by the bite of a tropical mosquito, symptoms of Chagas disease.

However, despite his frequent indispositions due to his delicate health, from his arrival until 1839 Darwin was very active. He worked on the writing of his travel diary, which would be published in 1839, and would elaborate two other texts in which he would present his observations in geology and zoology.

He settled in London in 1837 and there he would act as honorary secretary of the Geological Society, making contact with Charles Lyell, author of a book on geology that had been of great use to him while he was aboard the Beagle, "Principles of Geology".

While in the British capital he would begin to reflect on how species are changing, how they “transmute”. Based on what was seen in the Galapagos it was clear that, at some point in natural history, Animals such as finches, due to environmental influence and adaptation to the environment, had changed their anatomy. The question was how.

This he knew how to relate to domestic breeding. From time immemorial, farmers had been selecting the most common varieties of plants. useful, crossing them between them to ensure that the next generation gave them the maximum benefit. This artificial selection was extrapolated to nature, and would give way to the concept of natural selection.

While artificial selection followed a human criterion, largely based on how beneficial one cross or another is, natural selection, according to Darwin, would imply that those individuals better adapted to the environment, understood as “stronger”, would survive and reproduce, while the most disadvantaged would perish before having progeny.

Based on this mechanism, a species could be radically changed, causing the best adapted individuals to interbreed between them while those who simply had not had such good luck did not get to contribute a new generation.

Although this idea was really brilliant, Darwin himself was aware that the simple fact of doubting that the species that inhabited the face of the earth had all been created independently, and they had never changed, it was something that in the UK of his time would be seen as a heretical act.

That is why he chose not to write on the subject for a time, although, finally, in 1842 he would dare to record his reflections in a summary and, later, he would expand it with a document of about 230 pages, written in 1844.

Although his scientific life was being more than remarkable, it was not only his professional achievements at this time that stood out. On January 29, 1839, he married his cousin Emma Wedgwood. After marrying, he continued to reside in London until the end of 1842, moving to Down, in the county of Kent, trying to have a more peaceful and appropriate life for his delicate state of health.

On December 27, 1839, Darwin's first child had been born and the English naturalist did not allow himself to miss the opportunity to experiment with his own offspring. He began a series of observations on the expression of emotions in humans and animals.

Apart from this first child, the Darwin-Wedgwood couple had nine more children, six boys and four girls in total. At Down he completed writing papers dealing with geology, but also wrote a new edition of his travel journal.

The theory of evolution. Popularity and opposition

In 1856, Charles Lyell advised Darwin to work fully on developing his ideas about the evolution of species. This work, which he was sure would give him greater fame and popularity, seemed to have an unexpected end when he received a manuscript in 1858 in which a certain Alfred Russel Wallace, who had traveled to the Maluku Islands, said he shared his views.

Darwin felt widely identified in the figure of Wallace, especially when he indicated how he had come to the conclusion that species changed through survival and responding satisfactorily to the demands of the environment.

Although they both shared, in essence, the same theory, Darwin did not know how to proceed with the publication of his work, a concern that he shared with Lyell. Darwin, despite being the first to conceive the idea, did not want to sound like a usurper of Wallace's rights.

The incident was resolved, amicably, thanks to the intervention of Lyell and botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. Darwin he followed the advice of both, and summarized his manuscript, presented on July 1, 1858 at the Linnean Society, along with the work of Wallace.

The origin of species and recent years

After the incident, Darwin found it necessary to stop hesitating and publish his reflections as soon as possible, without the need to make summaries to shorten his notes.

It is for this reason that it was finally decided to send the text for which it would be widely known and criticized as soon as possible to print: On the origin of species through natural selection, or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life.

The book, which would be called The origin of species, was a true bestseller the day it was published, November 24, 1859. The first 1,250 copies were sold out in just a few hours. It is not surprising: it presented a more or less closed explanation for the existence of the variety of life forms that inhabit the planet.

The book was controversial due to its theological implications, since the idea of ​​natural selection implied processes that, until then, were reserved for the idea of ​​the creator God. That is why the opposition did not wait.

Religious figures, such as Bishop Samuel Wilberforce, were very harsh and critical of evolutionary theses, which, far from intimidating Darwin made his supporters give him broad support and assurance, including the zoologist Thomas Henry Huxley, known as "the bulldog of Darwin ”.

Although criticism was directed directly at him, Darwin chose to stay away from direct intervention. However, in 1871, when publishing The origin of man and selection in relation to sex earned even more critics. In this play He made his arguments that the human being had appeared on Earth by exclusively natural means.

In 1872 he would publish The expression of emotions in man and animals, a book in which, thanks to his research with his first-born son, it served him to make a modern study of human behavior and to compare it with other species.

During the last ten years of his life, Darwin put aside controversies regarding the origin of species and preferred dedicate himself to the world of botany, a hobby calmer than the angry debates about whether man is descended from apes or not.

At the end of 1881 he began to suffer from serious heart problems, first symptoms of heart disease that would lead to his death on April 19, 1882.

The intellectual legacy of this English naturalist

It is true that despite the fact that the first book with which Darwin would make his theory known was called The Origin of Species and that in turn this work left many questions open. However, the observations and explanations of this researcher provided the foundations on which other scientists would build Biology as we understand it now.

We currently know that the evolution of species through mechanisms such as natural selection is a reality, and it has even been proven from experiments. Cases of evolution in a matter of a few decades have also been observed, which is known as rapid evolution, and that occurs even in some vertebrates with a short life cycle. Thanks to these ideas, once combined with discoveries in genetics, many technical and technological solutions have been developed in Medicine, Biology and many other related disciplines.

Bibliographic references:

• Darwin, C., Duthie, J. F., & Hopkins, W. (1859). On the origin of species by means of natural selection: Or, The preservation of favored races in the struggle for life. London: John Murray, Albemarle Street.
• Darwin, C. and Wallace, A. R. (1858), On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection, Zoology 3, Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, pp. 46 - 50.
• Freeman, R.B. (2007). Charles Darwin: A companion. The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online.
• Larson, Edward J. (2004). Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory. New York: Modern Library.
• Rozzi, R. (2018). Transformations of Darwin's Thought at Cape Horn: A Legacy for Environmental Science and Ethics. Magallania. 46 (1): pp. 267 - 277.
• Shapin, S. (2010). The Darwin Show. London: London Review of Books.