Charles Robert Darwin - Biography.

Charles Robert Darwin - Biography. British naturalist Birth February 12, 1809 Death April 19, 1882 Place of Shrewsbury, England Birth Known for Proposing the theory of natural selection Career 1831 Graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in theology 1831-1836 Sailed around the world as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle 1839 Published notebooks containing meticulous observations of animal and plant species and geology made during the Beagle voyage 1858 Published a paper introducing his ideas on natural selection; the paper was presented to the Linnaean Society, a scientific organization in London, concurrently with a similar paper by British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace 1859 Published On the Origin of Species, his complete theory of natural selection 1871 Published The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, which explicitly stated that humans are descended from apes 1872 Published The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals Did You Prior to the publication of Darwin's ideas, most people believed that species were eternally unchanging. Know By implying that humans had evolved just like other species, On the Origin of Species directly contradicted orthodox theological opinion. British naturalist Alfred Wallace independently conceived a theory of natural selection identical to Darwin's; both Darwin's and Wallace's theories were presented on the same day in 1858 to the Linnean Society of London. Initially a medical student at Edinburgh University, Darwin dropped out and entered the University of Cambridge, where he became an unenthusiastic student of theology. Darwin's father almost prohibited him from joining the Beagle voyage in 1831, for fear that it might lead him away from a future in the clergy. Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.