Charles Darwin

“It is not the strongest of the species that

survives, not the most intelligent, but the one

most responsive to change.”

Charles Darwin (bornFebruary 12, 1809) was an English naturalist who gained great fame within his lifetime as well as long after his death for the development of evolutionary theory.

Most of Charles Darwin's evolutionary theory is contained in the book Origin of Species (1859).

He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors.

Darwin's early interest in nature led him to neglect his medical education at the University of Edinburgh; instead, he helped to investigate marine invertebrates. Studies at the University of Cambridge encouraged his passion for natural science...

In 1831, Darwin went on a voyage ( in HMS

Beagle, a ship).The travel was difficult and

costly, and people didn’t use to stay away from their homes for a

long time. Darwin, however, spent almost five years exploring the

world. He set foot on many locations in the Southern hemisphere.

As he traveled from place to place, Darwin was surprised, not by the differences between species, but by their similarities. He wrote "...there is even a difference between the inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show a marked relationship with those of America, though separated from that continent by an open space of ocean, between 500 and 600 miles in width."

At this early stage in his life, soon after graduating from college, Darwin was already accumulating evidence and asking questions that would lead to his theory of natural selection. Follow in Darwin's footsteps as he travels the world and changes from an amateur naturalist to a noted scientist.

According to Darwin’s theory, favorable characteristics that are inherited become more common in successive generations of a population of organisms that reproduce and unfavorable characteristics that are inherited become less common.

In 1882 he was diagnosed with what was called “angina pectoris " which then meant coronary thrombosis and disease of the heart. At the time of his death, the physicians diagnosed "anginal attacks", and "heart-failure”.

He died at Down House on 19 April 18822.