Charles Darwin Biography

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

British naturalist who laid the foundations of the theory of evolution and transformed the way we think about the natural world.

Darwin's "On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection, or "The Preservation Of Favoured Races In The Struggle Of Life", was published on November 24, 1859, and sold out immediately.

Born: 12 February 1809 at the Mount in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England (in a wealthy and well-connected family). He was named after his uncle Charles and his father Robert.

1838: November 11 Darwin proposed marriage to Emma Wedgwood and married her on January 29, 1839.

They have had 9 children (William Erasmus, Anne Elizabeth (1841-1851), Henrietta Emma (1842), George Howard (1845),Elizabeth (1847), Francis (1848), Leonard (1850), Horace (1851), Charles Waring (1856-1858).

Died: 19 April 1882 at Down House, Downe, Kent, England.

Buried: 26 April 1882 in Westminster Abbey .

Father: Robert Darwin (Doctor and financier)
Mother: Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood)

Siblings: He was the fifth of six children.

Grandson of Erasmus Darwin (leading intellectuals of the 18th century England on his father's side) and of Josiah Wedgwood (china manufacturer on his mother's side)

Charles Darwin Biography

1817: Darwin attended the grammar school in Shrewsbury. .

1817: July 15, Susannah,Darwin's mother, died. He was 8 years old.

1818: In September of this year, Darwin joined his brother, Erasmus, at Shrewsbury Grammar School. The focus of study was Greek and Roman reading as well as grammar.

1822. He and his brother setup a chemistry lab. Darwin enjoyed chemistry a lot and during this time he learned the basic principles of scientific experimentation.

1822: His brother, Erasmus, left home in October to study medicine at Christ's College, Cambridge University.

1825: In June, Darwin's father took him out of Shrewsbury school due to his poor grades and he spent the summer working as an assistant in his father's medical practice.

1825-27: Darwin matriculated at Edinburgh University in October. He studied medicine but as he could'nt stand the sight of blood and the operations (at the time without anesthetics) and that he found the study of medicine terribly boring, he left medical school.

Charles Darwin Biography Timeline from 1827 to 1830

1827: Darwin gave his first scientific speech in March (at a meeting of the Plinian Society) and during the summer of 1827 took interest in one of his sisters best friends Fanny Owen.

1827-31: Darwin was admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge University, in October, to prepare for a career in the Church.

1829: During the summer, Darwin made an entomological tour of North Wales with Professor F. W. Hope.

1830: Darwin passed his "little go" exam at Cambridge (translating Greek and Latin text, questions on the gospel and on Paley's Evidences of Christianity. Just after he passed his "little go" exam he broke up with Fanny Owen.

Charles Darwin Biography Timeline 1831

1831: Darwin took his final exam in January 22. Passed with very good scores. (Some examples of the topics: Homer, Virgil, Locke's Essay on Human Understanding, etc..) came in 10th place out of 178 students who have passed the exam.

1831: Darwin received his BA degree.the 26th April. Planned a scientific voyage to Canary Islands and convinced his friend, Marmaduke Ramsay, a tutor at Jesus College, to travel with him.

But all Darwin's plans to go to Tenerife were crushed: his friend Marmaduke Ramsay had died on July 31.

1831: At the end of August, Darwin received an invitation to serve as a naturalist(unpaid) on the survey ship H.M.S. Beagle. And in December of the same year the H.M.S. Beagle sailed from Devonport, England.

Charles Darwin Biography Timeline from 1835 to 1872

From 1835 till his death Darwin never stop to write and to deliver speeches on his discoveries,i.e:

Theory of formation of coral reefs.
Read his paper on coral reefs to the London Geological Society.
Opened first notebook on Transmutation of Species.
Began work leading to Zoology of the Voyage of the H.M.S. Beagle, Journal of Researches (during the voyage of the Beagle) published by Murray (London).
Finished the third and final volume of The Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle

1839: In January Darwin is elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

1858: In June, Darwin received a letter from Alfred Russell Wallace, who had formulated a theory of evolution through natural selection.

1858: In July, papers by Darwin and Wallace, announcing theory of Evolution through natural selection, were read at Linnaean Society, London.

1858: In July Darwin began to write his Origin of Species.

1858: In August joint paper with Wallace is published.

1859: In March Darwin finished writing the last chapter of Origin.

1859: In November Darwin's Origin of Species is published by Murray of London.

1860. In January Origin of Species, 2nd edition, is published.

1864: In November Darwin is awarded Copley Medal of the Royal Society.

1872: In February Origin of Species, 6th edition, is published.