Charles Darwin The Life and Times "of the Father of Evolution"

Charles Darwin
The Life and Times “of the Father of
            Evolution”

Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12 1809
  His father was Robert W. Darwin and his mother was
Susannah Wedgewood
   He was interested at a young age about the variability of
plants
          Darwin enjoyed collecting minerals, coins,
        insects, stamps and other odds and ends

         Darwin also had a love for dogs and always
        made friends with them swiftly

At age nine he went to Reverend Samuel Butler’s school in Shrewsbury
where he studied the classics, ancient history, and Greek
  He disliked all of his subjects and learned slowly. However, he did enjoy
reading Shakespeare's historical plays, the poems of Byron, Scott, Thomson,
and the Odes of Horace
 Darwin’s love for nature and natural science was supplemented at home by…
      Hiking- collecting specimens of various things that interested him
      Reading- introduced him to exotic lands and may have influenced his
    desire to travel
      Chemistry- played with his brother’s chemistry set and learned many
    things about scientific experimentation that would later benefit his
    scientific career
  His father sent Darwin to study medicine Edinburg University, Scotland.
However his unfortunate hatred of the sight of blood set a blockade in his path
as a medical student.

Yet again his interest and education on nature and natural science was
supplemented outside of school
      Taxidermy- learned out to stuff animals which would be
    extremely valuable later in life on the Beagle
      Plinian Society- Darwin started to attended these meetings which
    discussed studying nature from a natural point not supernaturally.
    This may have been the first time that Darwin took part discussing
    the idea of an evolution theory
      When Darwin went to Cambridge University, he became
    interested in collecting beetles
  Darwin made friends with Professor John Henslow who had a
massive impact on his amount of knowledge of nature. The greatest gift
that Henslow probably gave Darwin however was the ability to have
confidence in himself and see that he could become a top-notch
naturalist

William
        Charles    1839-1914    Anne
       1856-1858               1841-1851

 Horace                                Mary
1851-1928                              1842
                   Charles
                     &
Leonard            Emma
                                      Henrietta
1850-1943                             1843-1904

        Francis             George
       1848-1925 Elizabeth 1845-1912
                   1847-1926

In 1831 Captain Robert FitzRoy saw that the route of
his ship would provide ample opportunities to collect
specimens of nature
  The Captain asked a fellow captain if he approved who
did, and that fellow captain wrote to a friend of Prof.
Henslow who told the Captain that Darwin was a
capable young naturalist
   A letter was sent to Darwin, when he received it he
was extremely excited and immediately excepted the
offer
  Unfortunately Darwin’s father forbid him to go,
thankfully his Uncle was on his side and wrote to
Darwin’s father who finally allowed him to go

When Darwin reached Whitehall Academy he met an enthusiastic
Captain FitzRoy who was thrilled to give the position to Darwin after
the other prospect had turned it down less then an hour ago
  They spent the next several hours discussing the details of the trip
including the fact that the ship wasn’t going to leave until the 10th of
October instead of the 25th of September and, that the actual trip might
take up to two years longer
  It was decided that Darwin would eat with the Captain, pay his own
way and, and that he would have the option of leaving at anytime he
wanted
  The Captain was worried about Darwin getting his sea-legs and
decide Darwin had better see the Beagle. So about a week later Capt.
FitzRoy took him on a 3 day ship ride to the Beagle.

The Captain was very impressed with the quickness that Darwin took
to the sea. When they arrived where the Beagle was docked. Darwin felt
his heart sink. The ship was in horrible shape her masts were gone and
parts of her deck were missing
   Capt. FitzRoy assured Darwin that no expenses would be spared in
refurbishing the Beagle
 Darwin left on Sep.16. He went home and set up an arrangement with
Henslow to receive all the specimens that Darwin would be collecting
   Delay after delay caused the Beagle to not leave harbor until Dec. 27,
1831. Unfortunately Darwin got horribly seasick, and began to think of
heading home
  The ship was unable to make its first port call because of a
squall…Darwin was in his room feeling very green
  The next stop was in the Canary Islands, however the port would not
allow them in as there had been an outbreak of cholera in England

The Captain decide that they had better continue on
their journey. Darwin was very upset at not being able to
explore such an interesting island
  At the next island named Santiago, Darwin made
many observations about the cuttlefish; he was amazed at
their ability to change colors instantly
  On the same island Darwin noticed a white band of
shells that were 45 feet above sea-level- this caused
Darwin to later form his own theory on the shifting
continents and sinking ocean floors

On Feb. 28th Darwin landed in
Salvador, Brazil. He spent several days
just walking around in the jungles and
taking notes specimens. When he was in
the town Darwin was disgusted at the
sight of black slaves; he went and had an
argument with Capt.FitzRoy
  The Beagle made several more stops
where Darwin found many beetles and
other creatures that made him delighted.
  On July 5th 1832 Darwin was yet again
sea sick or he would have enjoyed the
massive pod of porpoises that escorted
the ship to her next port

On Patagonia where Darwin found huge bone
fossils in a cliff at Punta Alta. These fossils turned
out to be giant rodent-like animals, armadillo shells,
ground sloths and giant teeth, most of which were
entirely unknown to science at the time
  The Captain was ignorant about why Darwin
kept bringing “useless junk” on board
  Patagonia is also the home of the Patagonian
Cavy; this interesting little creature looks like a mix
between a rabbit, a kangaroo, a capybara and a
guinea pig

When the Beagle reached the Falklands on March 1st Darwin
was astounded at the difference in fossils. While he was at the
Falklands Darwin decided to do a comparative study between
animals and plants, and how they were distributed
  Darwin was having such a successful time collecting
specimens he had no time for studying them in their natural
habitat. He sent his father a request for the funds to hire a
servant and he asked Capt. FitzRoy if Syms Covington to be his
helper. Syms proved to be a eager student in taxidermy
  On August 11th Darwin went ashore on Rio Negro where he
observed wild Guanaco and Agouti

Darwin’s idea that the Andes mountains had been rising above
sea level challenged the belief that God had created a world that
was perfect and therefore had no need to change.
 All through out South America Darwin found evidence that the
Andes and perhaps the whole continent was rising above sea level.
This made Darwin believe that the Earth was very old
   On March 26th Darwin found an insect (or rather it found him)
in a village 15 miles south of the Mendoza. This blood sucking
insect could be called a kissing bug for the bruise like puncture
wounds they leave behind. He decided to keep one of these
Triatoma infestans to study how long they can go between blood
meals

On Sep. 17th 1834 the H.M.S Beagle set out to the Galapagos Archipelago.
  One buzzard, two owls, three flycatchers, one Sylvicola, three species of
mockingbirds, one species of finch, one swallow, one dove, 13 species of finches
(Darwin remarked how fascinated he was by the beak gradations, but the
variation of finches confused Darwin a great deal), one turtle, one tortoise,
four lizards (sea and land iguanas and two other types), four snakes, and very
few insects. Were among what Darwin collected on his visit to the islands.
       "Amongst other things, I collected every plant, which I could see in flower, & as
    it was flowering season I hope my collection may be of some interest to you. - I
    shall be very curious to know whether the Flora belongs to America, or is
    particular. I paid also much attention to the Birds, which I suspect are very
    curious." Charles Darwin, Letter to Revd. John Henslow January 1836.
      "Seeing this gradation and diversity of structure in one small, intimately related
    group of birds, one might really fancy that from an original paucity of birds in this
    archipelago, one species had been taken and modified for different ends." Charles
    Darwin, Journal of Researches, 2 edition, page 380

In Jan. 1836 Darwin was in Australia and he saw the
   platypus which he described as a most unusual and
                  fascinating creature
     Darwin also made a stop in Van Dieman’s land
(Tasmania) where he might have seen a Tasmanian devil

When Darwin visited the Keeling Islands in April, he
   was amazed at how all the islands were made of
                  submerged coral
     Darwin was able to collect a few specimens even
though the islands had very little vegetation other then a
                    few cocoa trees

The Beagle finally sailed into her home port on October 2nd 1836; Darwin
set off for home immediately and found his family asleep on October 4th
but was welcomed with a joyous pandemonium in the morning
  On Jan.4th 1837 Darwin had the chance to prove himself in front of the
Royal Geological Society; he gave a lecture on the shifting continents
  On Nov.11th 1838 Darwin proposed to Emma Woodwedge
   In October of 1859 Darwin left London and took his family with him to
“ride out the storm” his book the “Origin of Species by Natural Selection” was
surly going to create in Nov. when it came out
  30th,June of 1860 there was large scale debate on evolution
  Darwin wrote a few more books called “Decent of Man”, The Expression of
Emotions in Man and Animals”, “Insectivorous Plants”
 In 1881 Darwin had completed his life's work and he started to get bored.
He couldn’t find anything that interested him

Though out 1882 Darwin experienced several severe chest pains,
                 heart attacks and strokes
Charles Robert Darwin passed away in his bed on April 19th ,1882
    He was buried at Westminster Abby on April 26th,1882