FREE ESSAY ON CHARLES DARWIN

CHARLES DARWIN

Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin, as he was known in full, brought many interesting ideas to the
world of science. He was credited for developing the evolutionary theory by natural
selection and also for discovering a species of frog while in South America. Darwin has
many followers of his theory of evolution but there are many people who are trying to
disprove his theory. These people have showed that their different theories prove Darwin
could not have been correct in every aspect of his theory, but there is no absolute right
or wrong to the theory of evolution. The world will continue to be divided on the subject
of evolution.
Charles Darwin was born on February 18, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. He is the son of
Robert Waring Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood Darwin. His father, Robert Darwin, was a
physician and naturalist. Eramus Darwin was Charles Darwin's paternal grandfather. He was
a poet, philosopher, and naturalist. Eramus Darwin was also the author of Zoonomia, which
is more commonly known as the Law of Organic Life. Charles Darwin's maternal grandfather
was Josiah Wedgwood. Josiah Wedgwood was an artisan-entrepreneur. Charles Darwin is best
known for developing the theory of evolution by natural selection.
Charles Darwin spent his childhood in England. When Charles was at the young age of eight
his mother died. After his mother's death adoring sisters and an older brother raised
him. As a young child, in a Divinity School in Shrewbury, it was stressed that he learn
the classics, but he was a very uninspired student. He was repeatedly reprimanded for
wasting his time collecting animal specimens, especially beetles, and performing chemical
experiments. At sixteen he went to The University of Edinburgh to study medicine. He had
planned to study medicine,
but he could not take the sight of surgery without anesthetics so he did not continue in
that field. The fact that Darwin did not show enthusiasm in the field of medicine
disappointed his father very much. Then Darwin was sent to The University of Cambridge in
1827. Here he was to study for the clergy. The clergy is the body of people ordained for
religious work such as ministers, pastors, and priest. (The World Book Encyclopedia,
Volume 1, page 389) However, his academic record reflected his lack of interest in his
studies of this field. He eventually abandoned it completely and never became a
clergyman.
Charles Darwin received money from his father, which made it unnecessary for him to
acquire a job and allowed him the freedom to work as an independent scientist. Since he
did not become a clergyman, as his schooling had prepared him, Darwin proposed to his
first cousin, Emma Wedgwood. They were married on January 29, 1839. She was a devoted
wife and brought money and housewifery skills that provided him an environment to work in
peacefully for forty years. During this forty years Charles and Emma Darwin had ten
children. Two that died when they were infants and one, Anne, died when she was ten years
old. (1994-2000 Encyclopedia Britannica). They had five surviving sons and three
surviving daughters.
Charles Darwin was known as a British naturalist even from a young age because of his
interest in the animal species. A naturalist is a person who makes a study of animals and
plants, especially in their native habitats. (The World Book Encylopedia, Volume 2, page
1371). During August of 1831, at the age of twenty-two, Darwin served as a naturalist
aboard the H.M.S. Beagle on a British science expedition around the world, but he was not
paid while on this trip. This trip took five years, from 1831 to 1836. During this trip
Darwin took extremely detailed notes and collected many specimens. After returning to
London and studying his notes and specimens carefully Darwin developed several theories,
all related to each other. The first, that evolution did occur; second, evolutionary
change was gradual, taking millions of years to occur; third, the main mechanism for
evolution was the process of natural selection; and fourth, that the millions of species
alive in our world today all came from a single original form of life. This "evolution"
occurred through a branching process called "specialization." All of these processes made
up his theory of evolution.
It took Charles Darwin more than twenty years to publish his "Magnum Opus", The Origin of
the Species, which he is still known for today; one hundred and twenty years later! There
are many different opinions as to why it would take him so long to decide to publish his
book. The most popular opinion, probably, is that he did not want to publish his theory
until he was sure he had gathered enough evidence to support his theory. Another
interesting "theory" is that Charles Darwin had a severe childhood reading problem that
could have very possibly have been a form of dyslexia. It is said that his reading
problems destroyed his self-confidence and therefore delayed the publication of his
evolutionary theory by twenty years. Whatever the delay, Darwin finally published in
1859, On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
Charles Darwin lived a long, fulfilling life with his family at their home on Downe,
England. He spent much of his spare time gardening and raising pigeons. It was thought he
might have contracted and illness during his travels in South America. After living
seventy-three years, he died on April 19, 1882. He is now buried at Westminster Abbey in
England. (Krista Gowans) At the time of his death his two main works included The Origin
of Species, published in 1859 and The Decent of Man, published in 1871.
Bibliography
Bibliography
"Biography of Charles Darwin." September 9, 2000 
"Clergy." World Book Dictionary. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation,
1973.
"Darwin, Charles." Encyclopedia Brittanica Deluxe edition, CD. Brittanica.com,
2000.
Gowans, Krista. "Charles Darwin." September 6, 2000 
"Naturalist." World Book Dictionary. Chicago: Field Enterprises Educational Corporation,
1973.
"Talented Dyslexics." September 11, 2000