Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist who realised that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, and published compelling evidence to that effect. He proposed that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifet...
more
Charles Robert Darwin FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist who realised that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, and published compelling evidence to that effect. He proposed that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. The fact that evolution occurs became accepted by the scientific community and much of the general public in his lifetime, but it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed that natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.
At Edinburgh University Darwin neglected medical studies and helped to investigate marine invertebrates, then the University of Cambridge encouraged a passion for natural science. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle...
less
