Download Charles Darwin 1809-1882

Charles Darwin
1809-1882
Who was he and what did he
do???
The early years
• Born 1809 in England
• Came from a highly
religious family
• Studied natural history at
university
• Was a great
disappointment to his
father, who wanted him to
become a doctor
The HMS Beagle
• Set out to explore the
world
• Captained by Robert
Fitzroy
• Darwin was invited
not as a scientist but
as a companion for
the captain
• When Darwin boarded the Beagle he was a firm
believer in the creationist view of life's origins
The Beagle continued
• The voyage lasted nearly five years
• Travelled all around the world including to little old
New Zealand
• What Darwin learned and saw during the voyage set
him thinking
What did Darwin see?
• In Patagonia (South America)
– fossils of huge extinct mammals, one
of which looked like a giant version
of an armadillo
• In the Galapagos Islands
– Mockingbirds which differed from
island to island.
– Tortoises which had variations in
their shells depending on which
island they came from
– Finches – 12 different species
(although he paid little attention to
these until his return home
Darwin’s theory
• In 1837 Darwin wrote down his first thoughts
about descent with modification based on
what he had seen on his journey
• In March of 1837 Darwin speculated in his
notebook on the possibility that "one species
does change into another"
Darwin’s theory
• In mid July 1837,
Darwin wrote “I
think” above the first
evolutionary tree
• His tree shows that
species descend from
one common
ancestor and change
ie the theory of
descent with
modification
Publishing the theory
• It was years and years before Darwin
published his theory in his book “On the
Origin of Species”
• The book went on sale in November
1859 and was hugely popular
• Surprisingly there was little
controversy surrounding Darwin’s
theory, perhaps because he avoided the
term “evolution” and barely
discussed the evolution of humans
Publishing the theory
• Darwin stated his theory simply in the
introduction of his book
– “As many more individuals of each species are born
than can possibly survive; and as, consequently,
there is a frequently recurring struggle for
existence, it follows that any being, if it vary
however slightly in any manner profitable to itself,
under the complex and sometimes varying
conditions of life, will have a better chance of
surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the
strong principle of inheritance, any selected variety
will tend to propagate its new and modified form”
Or in simpler terms…
• More individuals of each species are born
than can actually survive long enough to
reproduce.
• Those individuals of each species that are
better adapted to their environment will
survive long enough to reproduce and
therefore will be “naturally selected”
To sum up….
• Darwin came up with the theory of how
species can change through natural selection
• He did not understand the mechanisms
through which this happens (genes), it was
Gregor Mendel who discovered this
• Both Darwin and Mendel were actually alive
at the same time but did not know of each
others work
Other facts about Darwin
• He published a book titled “The
formation of vegetable mould
through the action of worms,
with observations on their
habits”
• He married his cousin Emma
Wedgewood
• Charles and Emma had 10
children
The Darwin Awards
• Awards have been given for people who "do
a service to Humanity by removing
themselves from the gene pool”
• Examples:
– Juggling active hand
grenades (Croatia,
2001)
– Trying to get enough light to look down the barrel of a
loaded muzzleloader gun using a cigarette lighter (U.S.,
1996)