Charles Darwin
English naturalist and geologist
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist and geologist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection. He set it out in On the Origin of Species in 1859.
1 summary 25 min of listening
British Born 1809 in Mount House Died 1882
Influenced by Sigmund Freud
About Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was born in Shrewsbury, England, and worked as a naturalist, geologist and biologist. He began medical studies at the University of Edinburgh but was drawn to nature instead, and his time at Cambridge deepened his interest in natural science. His voyage aboard HMS Beagle, which lasted five years from 1831, made his name as a geologist, and his published journal of the trip brought him fame as a writer. Puzzled by the wildlife and fossils he had collected, he worked out his theory of natural selection in 1838. In 1858 Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay describing the same idea, and the two theories were presented together. Darwin laid out his theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species in 1859. He later wrote about human evolution in The Descent of Man (1871), and his final book looked at earthworms and soil. He received the Royal Medal in 1853 and is buried in Westminster Abbey.