The Idea that Changed the World — Darwin and Evolution by Natural Selection
Sunday, November 24th was World Evolution Day. It is celebrated because 160 years ago, a paper was published that changed scientific thinking completely. On November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin published his work: On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection; an account of the greatest story ever told — that of evolution by natural selection.
Charles Darwin was a naturalist, geologist and biologist, who was born on February 12, 1809, in Shropshire, England. He belonged to a freethinking, intellectual family. His father Robert was a doctor and his grandfather Erasmus Darwin in addition to being a doctor was also a key thinker of the British enlightenment. His maternal grandfather was Josiah Wedgewood, founder of the famous Wedgwood ceramic company. Darwin’s mother died when he was only eight years old.
In 1825, he became an apprentice doctor for his father and then went on to medical school at the University of Edinburgh. However, Darwin found the lectures boring and he neglected his studies. Instead, in his second year, he joined the Plinian Society, a natural history group of students from the University. His father however was not pleased with him neglecting his studies and packed him off to Christ’s College, Cambridge for a BA, so that he could become a country parson. At Cambridge…
