CHARLES DARWIN
DYNEISHERA RILEY
HUM101
VANCE
BACKGROUND INFO
• WHO? – CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN.
• WHEN? – FEBRUARY 12TH 1809 – APRIL 19 1882
• WHY? – THE THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION CAUSED INTELLECTUAL FERMENT IN MID AND LATE VICTORIAN,
ENGLAND.
• WHERE? – VICTORIAN, ENGLAND
• WHAT? – “IN 1859, CHARLES DARWIN SET OUT HIS THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY NATURAL SELECTION AS AN EXPLANATION FOR
ADAPTATION AND SPECIATION. HE DEFINED NATURAL SELECTION AS THE “PRINCIPLE” BY WHICH EACH SLIGHT VARIATION (OF A TRAIT),
IF USED, IS PRESERVED”. NATURAL SELECTION IS DARWIN’S MOST FAMOUS THEORY; IT TELLS THAT EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE COMES
THROUGH THE PRODUCTION OF VARIATION IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF CHARACTERISTICS WHICH INCREASE
THEIR PROBABILITY OF SURVIVAL WILL HAVE MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO REPRODUCE AND THEIR OFFSPRING WILL ALSO BENEFIT FROM
HERITABLE, ADVANTAGEOUS CHARACTER. THEREFOR, OVER TIME THESE VARIANTS WILL SPREAD THROUGH THE POPULATION.
MORE BACK GROUND INFO
• NATURALIST CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN WAS BORN ON FEBRUARY 12, 1809, IN THE TINY MERCHANT TOWN OF SHREWSBURY,
ENGLAND. HE WAS THE SECOND YOUNGEST OF SIX CHILDREN. DARWIN CAME FROM A LONG LINE OF SCIENTISTS. HIS FATHER, DR.
R.W. DARWIN, WAS AS A MEDICAL DOCTOR, AND HIS GRANDFATHER, DR. ERASMUS DARWIN, WAS A RENOWNED BOTANIST.
DARWIN’S MOTHER, SUSANNA, DIED WHEN HE WAS ONLY 8 YEARS OLD.
• DARWIN WAS A CHILD OF WEALTH AND PRIVILEGE WHO LOVED TO EXPLORE NATURE. IN OCTOBER 1825, AT AGE 16, DARWIN
ENROLLED AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY ALONG WITH HIS BROTHER ERASMUS. TWO YEARS LATER, CHARLES DARWIN BECAME A
STUDENT AT CHRIST'S COLLEGE IN CAMBRIDGE. HIS FATHER HOPED HE WOULD FOLLOW IN HIS FOOTSTEPS AND BECOME A MEDICAL
DOCTOR, BUT THE SIGHT OF BLOOD MADE DARWIN QUEASY. HIS FATHER SUGGESTED HE STUDY TO BECOME A PARSON INSTEAD, BUT
DARWIN WAS FAR MORE INCLINED TO STUDY NATURAL HISTORY.
• HE EMBARKED ON A FIVE-YEAR SURVEY VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD ON THE HMS BEAGLE. HIS STUDIES OF SPECIMENS AROUND THE
GLOBE LED HIM TO FORMULATE HIS THEORY OF EVOLUTION AND HIS VIEWS ON THE PROCESS OF NATURAL SELECTION. IN 1859, HE
PUBLISHED ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
• DARWIN'S EXPOSURE TO SPECIMENS ALL OVER THE GLOBE RAISED IMPORTANT QUESTIONS. OTHER
NATURALISTS BELIEVED THAT ALL SPECIES EITHER CAME INTO BEING AT THE START OF THE WORLD,
OR WERE CREATED OVER THE COURSE OF NATURAL HISTORY. IN EITHER CASE, THE SPECIES WERE
BELIEVED TO REMAIN MUCH THE SAME THROUGHOUT TIME. DARWIN, HOWEVER, NOTICED
SIMILARITIES AMONG SPECIES ALL OVER THE GLOBE, ALONG WITH VARIATIONS BASED ON
SPECIFIC LOCATIONS, LEADING HIM TO BELIEVE THAT THEY HAD GRADUALLY EVOLVED FROM
COMMON ANCESTORS. HE CAME TO BELIEVE THAT SPECIES SURVIVED THROUGH A PROCESS
CALLED "NATURAL SELECTION," WHERE SPECIES THAT SUCCESSFULLY ADAPTED TO MEET THE
CHANGING REQUIREMENTS OF THEIR NATURAL HABITAT THRIVED, WHILE THOSE THAT FAILED TO
EVOLVE AND REPRODUCE DIED OFF.
THEORY OF EVOLUTION CONTINUED
• DARWIN'S 5 THEORIES WERE:
• I. EVOLUTION – SPECIES COME AND GO THROUGH TIME, WHILE THEY EXIST THEY CHANGE.
• II. COMMON DESCENT – ORGANISMS ARE DESCENDED FROM ONE, OR SEVERAL COMMON ANCESTORS AND
HAVE DIVERSIFIED FROM THIS ORIGINAL STOCK.
• III. SPECIES MULTIPLY – THE DIVERSIFICATION OF LIFE INVOLVES POPULATION OF ONE SPECIES DIVERGING
UNTIL THEY BECOME TWO SEPARATE SPECIES; THIS HAS PROBABLY OCCURRED BILLIONS OF TIMES ON EARTH.
• IV. GRADUALISM – EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE OCCURS THROUGH INCREMENTAL SMALL CHANGE WITHIN
POPULATION; NEW SPECIES ARE NOT CREATED SUDDENLY.
• V. NATURAL SELECTION – EVOLUTIONARY CHANGE OCCURS THROUGH VARIATION BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS,
SOME VARIATION GIVE THE INDIVIDUAL AN EXTRA SURVIVAL PROBABILITY.
THEORY OF EVOLUTION CONTINUED
• DARWIN CONSIDERED THESE THEORIES AS A PART ONE BIG GREAT IDEA; THEY ALL TAKE PLACE
AT THE SAME TIME. NATURAL SELECTION WAS DARWIN’S MOST NOVEL AND REVOLUTIONARY
IDEA, BUT IT IS VERY SIMPLE. DARWIN ADDED TO HIS BULK OF EVIDENCE THROUGHOUT HIS
LIFETIME, FOR EXAMPLE WITH STUDIES ON HUMANS. SINCE 1859 THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY
HAS BEEN BUSY TESTING HIS THEORIES, AND ALTERNATIVES, TO SEE WHAT BEST HOLDS UP. THE
WEALTH AND DIVERSITY IS NOW EVIDENCE NOW INCLUDES EVIDENCE FROM DNA RECORD,
FOSSIL RECORDS, AND FROM CASE STUDIES
SELECTION.
THEORY OF EVOLUTION CONTINUED - NATURAL
SELECTION
• DARWINISM IS A THEORY OF BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION DEVELOPED BY CHARLES ROBERT
DARWIN AND OTHERS, STATING THAT ALL SPECIES OF ORGANISMS ARISE AND DEVELOP
THROUGH THE NATURAL SELECTION OF SMALL, INHERITED VARIATIONS THAT INCREASE THE
INDIVIDUAL'S ABILITY TO COMPETE, SURVIVE, AND REPRODUCE.
WORK CITED
• HTTP://WWW.BIOGRAPHY.COM/PEOPLE/CHARLES-DARWIN-9266433
• HTTP://DARWIN-ONLINE.ORG.UK/BIOGRAPHY.HTML
• HTTP://WWW.ABOUTDARWIN.COM/DARWIN/WHOWAS.HTML