Darwin, Charles

Darwin, Charles (1809–82). Darwin made evolution scientifically respectable. Intended for medicine, he took courses at Edinburgh, but dropped out unable to bear surgery. He went on to Christ's College, Cambridge, took a pass degree, and became a clergyman, reading W. Paley with pleasure. There J. S. Henslow and Adam Sedgwick directed his enthusiasm for nature into serious science and in 1831 he was offered a place as companion to the captain on HMS Beagle surveying Cape Horn. This was the kind of opportunity that Joseph Banks had enjoyed; and on the five-year voyage round the world, Darwin became a great descriptive scientist and collector. Thinking about nature's diversity, and reading T. R. Malthus, he hit upon the idea of natural selection when he got home.

Animals and plants produced more young than could survive: those better adapted to their surroundings would be ‘selected’ by nature as the stock-breeder selected the woolliest or meatiest sheep, and their offspring would diverge, inheriting characteristics. Unlike earlier theories, his grandfather's or J. B. Lamarck's, this did not involve progressive development in accordance with a plan or law; it was open-ended. Darwin spent over 20 years collecting and marshalling evidence before publishing the Origin of Species in 1859. Meanwhile, he had married his cousin Emma Wedgwood, and settled in a remote corner of Kent; his health was poor, and he led a reclusive life, writing the standard work on barnacles. Despite furious controversy, his theory prevailed, and by the end of his life he was universally recognized.

David Knight