Charles Darwin

Darwin’s Parents

Dr. Robert Darwin Susannah Wedgwood

Charles Darwin
Charles was born on
12th February 1809 in
Shrewsbury, England .
Darwin’s father,
Robert Darwin, was a
doctor. Mother
Susannah Wedgwood,
belonged to a wealthy
family.
 Mother Passes away

Sadly, his Mother Susannah

Wedgwood, died soon
afterwards. So his elder sisters
looked him after.
His elder brother called Erasmus
was his best friend.
 Childhood
Charles and Erasmus set up a
lab in their garden shed – a
hobby which earned Charles
the nickname “Gas” at school.

Charles was also a big

collector, stuffing his pockets
with creepy crawlies, stones
and bits of plants. He loved
exploring the country side
around his house and often Darwin’s Collection
went for long walks.
 In Edinburg University
to learn Medicine
Charles loved nature, but
he hated school. He had
to learn Latin and Greek
texts off by heart and
thought it was
ridiculously boring!

In October 1825 Charles

was sent with his brother
to Edinburg University to
study medicine; his father
planned for both his sons
to become physicians like
himself.
 In the Medical College
Zoology Professor
In those days there were no
painkillers and operations were
performed on patients when
they were awake – there was
lots of blood and screaming
and the young Darwin couldn’t
bear it! Thus young Charles
hated medicine too! He spent
most of his time on the beach
looking at sponges.
Decided to become a Priest

So Charles quit
medicine and his Dad
suggested a new career
-To become a priest!
Charles was sent to
Christ’s College,
Cambridge to study to
become a priest…
 Henslow
At Cambridge Charles attended a
class of J. S. Henslow, botany
professor. He also came in
contact with Adam Sedgwick,
Geology professor.

Adam Sedgwick They taught him how to study

nature in a scientific way. Finally
Charles found something he
loved! This inspired Darwin to
develop himself as a naturalist.
 Voyage around the world
As soon as Charles
completed his course he
got a change to voyage
round the world.

H.M.S. Beagle was a ship

travelling around the globe,
making maps of coastlines.
The ship’s captain, Robert
Fitz Roy, was a lonely man
and wanted naturalist and
a friend for the trip to keep
him company. Professor
Henslow suggested the
name of Darwin.
H.M.S. Beagle
Principles of Geology by Lyell
During the journey
Darwin took the first
volume of Principles of
Geology by Charles Lyell.

In the book Lyell had

explicitly shown that the
earth was very old,
millions of years old, and
that over time it had
changed very slowly.
 Life very old
and changing slowly over time
When the Beagle docked at
land Charles was free to
explore! He set about testing
Lyell’s idea.
In his five years abroad he
witnessed earthquakes and
volcanoes, and found fossils of
seashells on top of the world’s
biggest mountains.

Everything he saw convinced

Charles that Lyell was right, so
he started thinking about life as
being very old and possibly
changing slowly over time.
 Fossils
In South America Charles
found some amazing fossils.
Fossils are the remains of
very old animals and plants
that have been buried and
turned into rock.

Charles found fossils of ten

foot tall sloths, and huge
cow-sized armadillos! These
fossils convinced him
further that life on earth
was very old.
 Visiting
Galapagos
Island

The Galapagos Island sit 600 miles west of

South America, on the equator. There are ten
main islands, and some smaller ones. Darwin
arrived on 15th September 1835.
 Galapagos Island

When the Beagle stopped at the Galapagos Islands,

in the Pacific Ocean, Darwin found some really
strange animals. He found lizards that swam in the
sea and ate algae, tortoises big enough to be ridden
like horses, and birds that were so fearless you
could grab them by the legs!

Darwin noticed a type of bird called a mockingbird

was very similar to the mockingbirds he had seen in
South America. Similar, but also different! He
wondered if the two birds were related.
Galapagoes Spicies
Galapagos Iguana
 Galapagos Finches
He collected lots of specimens while he was away,
enough to fill all his storage on the ship and more!
Some of the specimens he collected were finches from
the Galapagos; these are now very famous.

When Charles got home he asked a bird expert about

them and was told instead of being one species, there
were 13!

Charles thought they were all related to the finches in

South America but that they had evolved into many
different species!
Galapagos
Finches
 What is a Species?

A species is a group of animals or plants that are very

similar. Members of a species share the same
characteristics.

For example the species pet cats belong to all have

sharp teeth, retractable claws, fur, a tail and the same
number of toes and nipples.

Members of our own species, Homo sapiens, to give it

its proper name all walk upright, have some sharp
teeth and some flat ones, our eyes point forwards, we
have some hair but not all over and we have pretty big
brains!
 How Species Develop

When Darwin came home he started thinking

about how animals and plants change through
time. He thought that maybe, different types of
animals and plants could change…they could
evolve!

Darwin saw that individual animals and plants

compete with each other for food, water and
space: the things they need to live. They’re
fighting for their lives!
 Variation

He also saw that individuals are different from

each other and that parents and offspring are
more similar to each other than they are to
others. So Charles thought different

Individuals might survive better than others

because they are a little bit bigger or better at
something, and that if they do survive more
often they will have more kids.
Variations
 Variations will add up
to give shape to new species
So over time all the little differences would
add up until you see a big difference

When Darwin first told one of his friends he

was working on ideas about evolution he said
it was like 'confessing a murder'… at this time
most people thought evolution was a load of
rubbish!
 How to Identify a species
Scientists often decide whether two groups of
animals or plants are different species by working
out whether or not they can mate with each other.

If you try and get a rose to make seeds with

a cabbage it won’t work: they are separate
species. If you try and get a rose to make
seeds with another rose that will work: they
are the same species even if they look quite
a lot different!
Other means to identify a species

Scientists can use other more subtle

measures, for example if two groups
of birds look really similar but sing
different songs and don’t seem to
find each other attractive, it's a good
bet they are different species.
 How Do Species Evolve?

All species are related to each other. If you trace

your family tree back through your parents,
grandparents etc. it will quite quickly join up with
your cousin’s family tree. If you keep going back
far enough, eventually your tree will join up with
that of a chimpanzee! Keep going and it will join
up with your pet hamsters, further still with your
pet cats. Keep going and eventually it will join up
with your pet goldfish and if you really keep going
for a long time you can trace it back so it joins up
with an apple tree’s family tree, and eventually
bacteria will join up too!
 Survival of the fittest
So what makes all the species different? Charles
Darwin had the answer! Animals and plants
produce too many offspring. Think about how
many tadpoles you see at the start of spring, and
how few frogs you see at the end of spring.

A lot of them die, because there is not enough

food to go around. Of course they all try their
best to get all the food they need, so they have to
compete with each other.
 Adaptation

Darwin realised all the members of a species are

unique, they are all slightly different.
Sometimes this can be the difference between life and
death!

Think about a bird which eats seeds which have a

tough case like a nut. When nuts are in short supply
only the really strong birds with big beaks will be able
to crack them open and eat them. Since they get more
food, they will be less likely to starve or get sick.
 Evolution or
Natural Selection

Now, since offspring inherit a lot of their

characteristics from their parents birds with big
beaks will have chicks that grow up to have big
beaks too. So over many generations the average
beak size in that group of birds which struggle to
crack tough nuts will increase. Each generation
changes by a really little bit, but all these changes
can be added up over time to make a big
difference: that’s evolution! Darwin called this
process natural selection.
 Collecting evidence
to support his theory
So Darwin needed evidence to support his
ideas; unfortunately he was very busy with
other work. He spent ten years writing books
about his travels, then another eight writing
about barnacles. But he kept working on his
theory. He quizzed his friends about different
topics and worked on barnacles, pigeons,
flowers, fossils and anything else he could get
his hands on to test his ideas.
Wallace spent eight years in the Malay
Archipelago , from 1854 to 1862, traveling among
the islands, collecting biological specimens for his
own research and for sale, and writing scores of
scientific articles on mostly zoological subjects. In
early 1858 he sent a paper outlining his ideas
to Darwin, who saw such a striking coincidence to
his own theory that he consulted his closest
colleagues, the geologist Charles Lyell and the
botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker.
 Origin of Species

In 1859 he finally wrote a book about what he had

found out: On the Origin of Species. It was a sensation!
Some people were very angry because they believed
that a God had created all animals and plants and that
they stayed the same.

Darwin’s idea also meant that humans weren’t special;

they had evolved too just like any other animal. Darwin
and others concluded that humans evolved from apes,
which really upset some people who liked to think
humans were completely different from animals.
 What About Humans

When Darwin told the world about his discovery

in his book On the Origin of Species he didn’t
really say anything about humans other than to
hint his ideas would reveal the secrets of human
history.

But the message was clear; natural selection is

the process which has shaped all species,
including us!
 Descent of Man

Other scientists wrote books about human evolution,

often comparing our bones to those of apes and
monkeys.

Eventually Darwin decided to write a book about it too

to set the record straight about what he thought about
humans. He wrote a book called The Descent of Man.

He presented lots of evidence to support the theory

that humans evolved from apes. He also argued that
all the different human races were one species, which
was a keenly debated subject in Victorian times.
Descent of Man
 Old and sick

As he got older he got very sick. People

think he was bitten by a nasty bug in the
rainforest in South America and got a
disease, but no one knew it for sure.

He was so sick he could hardly go a day

without throwing up, he even had a
special cupboard built in his office to be
sick in!
 A noble Character
Darwin was actually a very
nice man, he loved his work
and his family, had a great
sense of humour and wrote
lots of letters to his friends
when he was sick.
 Passes away at the age of 72
Charles Darwin died, in
1882, aged 72. He was
buried in Westminster
Abbey. This was a
privilege of only the
very most important
people. Thousands of
people came from all
round the world to
attend his funeral.