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A Biography of Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin (born on the 12th February 1809, died on April the 19th 1882 at the age of 73) was an English Naturalist, Biologist and Geologist. He was best recognized for his theories – also known as Darwinism – and involvements to the science of Evolution. As a child, he went to Shrewsbury school, where all the lessons were the classics, like Latin and Greek. Surprisingly, Darwin hated school – he called it ̔Narrow and classical  ̓- and did poorly in all his lessons. Unfortunately, his mother (Susannah) became terribly ill in 1817 and died when Charles was only 8 years old, leaving him with his father, Robert Darwin and his five siblings – Erasmus, Caroline, Marianne, Emily and Susan. Charles’ father wanted him to become a Doctor or Priest, but Charles didn’t. On discovering this, Charles’s father sent him to the University of Edinburgh with his brother, Erasmus (nicknamed Eras) to study medicine. But when they arrived Darwin complained that most of the Official University lectures were stupid and boring. Charles also learned he was very delicate and couldn’t stand the sight of blood. Disgusted by medicine, Darwin left Edinburgh University without getting a degree or studying any more. Darwin’s father, anxious that Charles won’t become a Doctor or a Priest, sent him to work on clerical studies in the University of Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge in 1831.

When Darwin graduated from the University of Cambridge, he was recommended by the Professor of Botany (John Stevens Henslow) to Robert Fitzroy, commander of the HM Sloop Beagle, as a naturalist was needed on the ship. Luckily, Fitzroy agreed to let Charles onboard as Fitzroy’s first recommendation had declined the offer. As the naturalist on the Beagle, it was Darwin’s job to examine and amass the items they found while on shore, such as: rocks, fossils, peculiar plants and a variety of animals. Unfortunately, the ships departure was postponed many times because of preparation and continuous bad weather. On December 10th, the Beagle set sail, but cold wind rocked the boat back and forth leaving the crew – including Darwin – extremely nauseated. Eventually, on December 21st, the crew tried again, as it looked like ideal weather for setting sail. But when Darwin woke the next morning, he found the ship sailing backwards due to harsh gusts of wind from the south west pushing them back towards England. After a cold Christmas spent at the port, the Beagle finally set sail on December 27th, 1831. The first few days went horribly for Darwin; he was terribly unwell. But, in the end, the nausea stopped and Darwin was allowed to concentrate on the voyage ahead. The ship’s first stop was supposed to be Tenerife in the Canary Islands, but because of a recent outbreak of Cholera, the whole crew would have to go into quarantine for twelve days, so they went to St. Jago instead. The Beagle sailed around the world for five years. On October 2nd 1836, the ship sailed onto English shores.

During the voyage he stopped in the Galapagos islands of the South American coastline he saw Finches and Mockingbirds with the same characteristics as birds he had seen on land. He noticed however that the birds had developed different beaks and other body parts to the other birds on land. He realised that these birds must have evolved from their original breed. As he journeyed, he saw examples of this more and more until he came up with the theory of evolution. Darwin came up with four key theories of evolution: individuals of a species are not identical; traits are passed from generation to generation; more offspring are born than can survive; only the survivors of the competition for resources will reproduce. That is were we get our theory of evolution – also known as Darwinism today.