Biographies
Charles Darwin (1809-1892)
Charles Darwin (1809-1892), seminal Victorian scientist and naturalist, originally studied medicine at Edinburgh until 1827, when he was admitted to Christs’s College, Cambridge. Here he became interested in natural history and in 1831 accepted an invitation to join a five-year scientific survey as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle. The voyage took him to South America, the Galapagos, Tahiti, Australia and South Africa, and the papers he sent back, many of them on geological formations he witnessed, ensured his reputation as a scientist on his return. Material from South America and the Galapagos, combined with research into the domestication of animals and a reading of Malthus' writings on population, led Darwin to develop the theory of evolution and natural selection that was to have such an impact on Victorian life. On the Origin of Species appeared in 1859 and provoked violent critical reaction, especially for its atheistic implications. It was followed by many other works including Variation in Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868), The Descent of Man (1871) and The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872).