Charles Darwin and the Theory of Evolution
1. Name/dates: Charles Robert Darwin, 1809-1882
2. Most important work(s): On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in
the Struggle for Life (1859), The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to
Sex (1871)
3. Short biographical sketch: Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England, on February 12, 1809, the fifth child
in a wealthy, influential family. His grandfather John Wedgwood was a member of the scientific Lunar Society and
both wealthy and famous for developing high quality Wedgwood china. Darwin
attended both the University of Edinburgh to study Medicine and Cambridge
University to study theology. After graduation, on the recommendation of
friends Darwin joined the exploratory voyage of the HMS Beagle.
It was
from his observations on this scientific expedition that he began shaping his
theory of natural selection. On his return, he further developed his ideas and
wrote up a fairly complete summary of his theories, but because of the
controversy he anticipated, he refrained from presenting his ideas, storing his
thesis in a safety deposit box in 1844 with instructions in his will for this
wife to publish them only after his death.
In 1858,
however, Alfred Russell Wallace also a naturalist working in the same field
wrote a paper titled, "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely
from the Original Type" and sent a copy of it to Darwin for review. While
Darwin did not agree with specifics of Wallace's ideas of natural selection he
knew the thesis was close enough that he would have to come forward with his
own ideas if he wanted to get credit for them.
On 1 July 1858 Wallace's paper along with parts of Darwin's working manuscript form 1844 and an 1857 letter to Asa Gray were read before the Linnean Society in London. In 1858, his theory of evolution was announced and in 1859 his book, On the Origin of Species, was published. The Descent of Man was publishing in 1871, and was the book that discussed the relationship between man and ape. Darwin died in 1882 and was buried at Westminster Abby.
4. Main points, or thesis of the article: Origin of Species was decisive in convincing most nineteenth-century natural historians that the history of life was the result of “descent with modifications.” According to Darwin, individuals within every species possessed hereditable differences—variations—that arose in “random” fashion. Because it is generally the case that more individuals within a species are born than can survive on the available resources, these variations are of crucial importance in fostering evolutionary change. Organisms that happen to possess variations best adapted to their environment are most likely to survive long enough to leave offspring, while organisms that are less ”fit” are relentlessly eliminated. Over vast periods of time and in the face of a dynamic environment, this process of natural selection gradually leads to divergences sufficiently great to generate new varieties and eventually new species.
By 1875 the vast majority of natural historians had come to
view the history of life as the result of the gradual change of species over
time rather than the separate creation of individual, essentially fixed
species. Many however preferred the evolutionary mechanism recommended by
French botanist Jean Baptiste Lamarck which allowed for changes in characteristics
from changes in behavior. It was only after the appearance of Mendelian
genetics that the majority accepted the mechanism of natural selection.
5. Bibliography:
1. Degler, Carl N. In Search of Human Nature: the Decline and Revival of Darwinism in American Social Thought. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991
2. Russett, Cynthia Eagle. Darwin in America: the Intellectual Response, 1865-1912. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman, 1976.
3. A copy of Origin of Species is available at Online Library of Literature http://www.literature.org/authors/darwin-charles/