The Life and Times of Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, England. He was named after his uncle and his father. His father was Erasmus Darwin and he was a doctor, as was his father. His mother was Susannah Wedgewood. Her father was the founder of pottery. Darwin's mother died when he was only eight years old. He was left to be raised by his father and siblings.

As a child, Darwin was very shy but quite mischievous. He loved being the center of attention in his home. He attended Shrewsbury school until his father pulled him out for poor grades. His father felt that he had no real direction in life either. That was just one more reason that he pulled him out of that school. He often told him that if he kept going on the way he was, that he would be a disgrace to himself as well as his family. He certainly proved them to be quite wrong over the next many years.

Darwin's father decided that he should attend medical school as he did. Darwin's grandfather was also a doctor. Darwin went off to medical school in Scotland. The University of Edinburg was one of the best medical schools in Europe. He joined his brother, Erasmus, there who was also studying medicine. Darwin did not like medical school at all. He felt that it was a boring field and not one for him. He did not enjoy the site of blood and did not like facing the terminally ill. The only part of medical school that he found to be interesting was chemistry. He enjoyed the lectures given by his professor, Thomas Hope.

In 1826, Darwin learned about taxidermy from a freed black slave from Guyana, South America. His name was John Edmonstone. It was their conversations that may have helped to inspire Darwin to want to explore the tropics. The taxidermy skills that he learned became very valuable later in his life when he was on the H.M.S. Beagle in 1831.

In 1827, Darwin quit medical school. It was not his calling. He then enrolled in Christ's College at Cambridge University to study religion. He went to that school with the intention of becoming an Anglican priest. In 1828, he became addicted to natural history, thanks to Reverend John Stevens Henslow's lectures. He was the professor of Botany at Cambridge. Darwin quickly saw a natural science career in his future. He began having serious doubts about a career in the clergy.

In 1831, Darwin was invited to be a naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle by Reverend John Henslow and George Peacock. He wanted to accep the offer immediately but his family was very against the idea. His father eventually allowed him to go on the journey. The journey began on December 27, 1831 at 11 am. He became sea sick almost immediately after taking off. The journey took him many places. He had the capability to witness many different places and cultures. He learned a lot about the different types of people that inhabited the places that they docked at. For example, while in Rio Macao, Brazil, he witnessed first hand the brutal treatments of black people.

He collected specimens where on his journey and sent them home to England, along with notes and descriptions. Some of his early specimens included rocks, plants, beetles and marine life. Some of his later specimens included rodent teeth, marine shells and even the upper jaw and head of a large animal. Darwin was able to retrieve a lot of different specimens while on his voyage, from all over the globe. He was hooked on fossil collecting because of this.

In October 1836, the Beagle finally arrived home after traveling around the world for four years, nine months and five days. In early 1837, Darwin gave his first speech before the Royal Geological Society in London. This was his chance to basically prove himself. The topic was on the gradual raising of South America over eons of time. This became one of the earlier signs that Darwin was beginning to develop his own theories, different from the ones that he had heard from his peers and mentors.

Darwin suffered from a mysterious illness for a good part of his life by this time. He had heart problems and an extreme amount of stress in his life. The stress didn't help his health along one bit. He had stomach problems and headaches as well, on and off. It continued to get worse as time moved on. He had occasional periods where his health was good. It was like a yo-yo. For a while, he would be ill and then go through a period of wellness. He had trouble keeping up with his work when his health was failing him, but he still did try to complete whatever he could.

In February 1838, the first volume of "Zoology" was published. It was the first in a series of five books that covered the fossil mammals that he collected during his trip on the Beagle. His narrative of the Beagle was published in August 1839. It sold very well and still does to this day.

In 1838, Darwin proposed to his first cousin, Emma Wedgewood. Both families were extremely happy with this. With a dowry in place, plus his salaries, they would be extremely wealthy. The Wedgewood family was very well off. They got married on January 29, 1839 at St. Peters Church at Maer. They had their first child, a boy, named William Erasmus on December 27, 1839. By the winter of 1840, Darwin's health began to deteriorate yet again. His diagnosis from his father was "cause unknown". In March of 1841, Anne Elizabeth was born, their second child.

In 1842, "The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs" was published. In September 1842, Mary Elizabeth was born, but died on October 18^th. This was their third child. In September 1843, Darwin's health began to suddenly improve a bit. Another daughter, Henrietta, was born, their fourth child. It was also at this time that the "Zoology of the Beagle" was completed. There were five volumes - fossils, mammals, birds, fish and reptiles.

In July 1845, son and fifth child, George, was born. Darwin's health began to get bad again by 1847. In August 1848, another son, Francis, was born. This was their sixth child. Darwin's father died in November 1848. In late 1848, new symptoms began to trouble him. He had bouts of dizziness, depression and twitching spells as well as seeing spots before his eyes. He couldn't work as much or as fast as he once could. He still had the stomach problems and heart problems to deal with as well.

He seemed to be nearly cured of his ailments in 1849 after using a water treatment in which he would submerge his body in freezing water temperatures. This was supposed to draw the blood away from the inflamed nerves of the stomach. It seemed to work very well for him. He then bought a tank to put in his back yard so that he could continue this treatment. He used this treatment on a daily basis. It paid off for quite a while, improving his health. But his physical health along with the stress in his life was a lot for him to bear. He lost three children in total over the course of his life, as well as his father, mother and brother. This would ensure that his health would once again decline.

In January 1850, he had yet another child. Son, Leonard was born. This was their seventh child. In April 1851, his daughter, Annie, died after becoming seriously ill. In December 1856, yet another son was born, eighth child, Charles Waring. It was in 1856 that Darwin started working on his theory of natural selection. In June of 1858, his son, Charles died.

His book, "Origin of Species" went on sale on November 22, 1859. In 1860, the term "Darwinism" was started by Thomas Huxley in the Westminster Journal. In May of 1862, the Orchid book was published. The full title of the book was "On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids and Fertilized by Insects".

In September 1864, Darwin's 118 page book, "The Movement and Habits of Climbing Plants" was published. His health then started to decline again. In March of 1871, his book "Descent of Man' was published. In May of 1876, he started working on his autobiography. It didn't take him long to finish as he finished in August of that year. His first grandson was born in September of 1876. He was named Bernard Darwin. He was the son of Francis and wife Amy. She died a few days later on the eleventh, due to a fever.

"The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Actions of Worms, with Observations on their Habits" was published in October 1881. In 1882, his health took a turn for the worse once again. He started to have severe chest pains and seizures. His family feared the worst and got prepared for his demise. He died on April 19, 1882 at 4 pm at his home with his family surrounding him. He was buried on April 26, at Westminster Abbey.

During the course of his life, he wrote many books and had many children, eight in total. His life was full. He did what it was that he wanted to do and succeeded, as many would say. He was convinced that sexual reproduction or cross fertilization had an important part in the theory of evolution. He came to two major conclusions concerning the sexual process. His first conclusion was that sexual reproduction was a pre requisite for individual variation. A non sexual union produced replicas only. Second, he believed that sexual reproduction was a universal thing of animals and plants only. He examined hermaphroditism at length, trying to determine if self fertilization was a possibility. Darwin was responsible for the generalization that flowers and devices to ensure cross fertilization of insects. He found the evidence for the importance of cross fertilization among living things. He did many experiments on the effects of cross fertilization and self fertilization in plants.

Darwin was an English naturalist. He proposed and provided scientific evidence to show that all species of life have evolved over time from ancestors through a process of natural selection. His theory of natural selection came to be widely seen as the primary explanation of the process of evolution in the 1930's. It now forms the basis of modern evolutionary theory. His scientific discoveries have been called the foundation of biology. His theory provides a logical explanation for the diversity of life.

He had many experiments that were worthy of writing about. His life was full of experiments and experiences that many love reading about. He proved to his family that he did something with his life that was worth while, instead of following the family's footsteps and becoming a doctor. He was very against becoming a doctor. Medicine did not peak an interest in him. He followed his dreams and succeeded, even though he was told that he wouldn't succeed if he followed the same path that he was taking early on in his life.