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Directions: Read the following article. Create a graphic timeline of the life of Charles Darwin, including major events that occurred in
his life. Use this article to help you complete this assignment. Additionally, use your textbook, Chapter 15-1 and 15-3. Include details!!
Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) is credited with developing the theory of natural selection, or "survival of the fittest". He is
considered one of the greatest scientists of all time, and has changed the way scientists think in biology and science in general.
Most of Darwin's evidence and ideas for his theory of natural selection came from his around-the-world trip on the sailing ship HMS
Beagle. The expedition was arranged by the British Royal Navy. Captain Robert Fitzroy asked Professor John Henslow, a botanist with
whom Darwin had become friends in Cambridge University, for a recommendation of a naturalist for the trip. Henslow recommended
Darwin.
On December 27, 1831, Darwin left England on the Beagle. During that five-year journey, from December 27, 1831 to October 2, 1836,
Darwin drew and wrote about what he saw, sent many specimens back to England, and developed ideas and questions about life that
existed in the past and how it changed to become the way it is now.
In 1835, after leaving South America, the Beagle sailed to the Galapagos Islands, about thirteen small islands six hundred miles from
South America, near the Equator. There he saw many unique creatures found only on those islands, but similar to those on the
mainland. Among these were marine iguanas and giant tortoises, which Darwin and the Beagle crew rode like horses. Not only were
the animals different from those anywhere else on earth, many species had differences depending on which island they came from. For
example, the Galapagos natives could tell from which island a tortoise came by the shape of its shell.
On the Galapagos Islands, Darwin also saw several different types of finch, a different species on each island. He noticed that each
finch species had a different type of beak, depending on the food available on its island. The finches that ate large nuts had strong
beaks for breaking the nuts open. Finches that ate small nuts and seeds had beaks for cracking nuts and seeds. Darwin noticed that
fruit-eating finches had parrot-like beaks, and that finches that ate insects had narrow, prying beaks. He wrote: "One might really fancy
that from an original paucity [scarcity] of birds ... one species had been taken and modified for
different ends."
Later, Darwin concluded that several birds from one species of finch had probably been blown by
storm or otherwise separated to each of the islands from one island or from the mainland. The
finches had to adapt to their new environments and food sources. They gradually evolved into
different species.
Darwin returned to Falmouth, England on October 2, 1836. He continued his research into his
idea of evolution, studying his Beagle specimens and notes made during his journey as evidence
for evolution. Darwin was reluctant to publish his ideas because they went so strongly against the
ideas of the day. Darwin thought that the society was not yet ready for his ideas, and he knew that
there would be a lot of protest.
On November 24, 1859, Darwin published the theory in his book, titled The Origin of Species. At first, in anticipation of the outcry that
would follow the publication of the new theory, only 1,250 copies were printed. These sold out in the first day. Many people, including
some of Darwin's old friends and his family, were very angry about the new ideas, and one person even called Darwin "the most
dangerous man in England." However, a few people saw the good science in the ideas and the huge amounts of evidence to support
them.
Darwin continued his research and writing, publishing several more books in the 1870s. He died on April 19, 1882, at age 73. By the
time he died, Darwin had become a national figure and was considered one of the greatest scientists of all time.