Charles Darwin: Unravelling the Mystery of Life

Charles Robert Darwin, also known as the father of Evolution, was born on February 2, 1809, in Shrewsbury, England. He died of a heart attack on April 19, 1882. Charles Darwin was a child of wealth and privilege and his hunger for nature’s unanswered questions was not coincidental. Darwin got it all from his genetics, his father was a medical doctor and his grandfather was a renowned botanist. Darwin is known for many controversial theories on mankind, which he wrote in his book,’ On the Origin of Species.’

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Early life of Charles Darwin

Coming from a long line of scientists, Darwin was always eager to explore nature. He was the second youngest of six kids. Darwin’s mother Susanna, died when he was only 8 years old. He was brought up by his father and elder sisters. His family had a background of wealthy, intelligent lords who hated slaves. Darwin’s father wanted him to follow in the footsteps of the family and become a doctor as well but Darwin had other plans. He was one of the naughtiest in his childhood.

Young Darwin used to assist his father while treating patients, his father hoped that Darwin would develop an interest in medicine. Instead, Darwin hated blood and got even more uninterested. He was sent to one of the most prestigious universities of that time along with his brother Erasmus, the University of Edinburgh at the age of 16. He never connected with his studies and mostly stayed away from lectures and classes. Two years later he joined Christ’s College in Cambridge to study divinity.

Charles Darwin. Image Credit: quasar

Journey of Darwin to His Theories

Not completing his studies in medicine, he became a huge disappointment to his father who wanted Darwin to become a well-respected doctor. During that time, religion was prioritized to such an extent that it was unquestionable. With time, Darwin became more and more curious about nature and started asking questions that were against Christianity.

During his time at Christ College, he was mentored by a botany professor, John Stevens Henslow who saw the uniqueness of Darwin’s thoughts. Henslow recommended Darwin as a naturalist’s position on HMS Beagle, which was a life changer for Darwin. HMS Beagle was a ship that was set to go all around the world. Initially, his father was strictly against allowing him on the voyage. Darwin was told to focus on his studies and not on the voyage as it was a waste of time.

After a lot of effort, Darwin’s family convinced his father to send him on the voyage. It was a 5-year long voyage that started on 27 December 1831. On his journey, he collected many natural specimens of birds and plants, fossils, etc. Moreover, The more he went around the more he questioned the existence of life and earth. His questions were mostly so much against the beliefs of people and religion that he kept every theory to himself for a long time.

Darwin’s Theory and its Controversies

The churches during the 19th century kept religion above all. Furthermore, anyone who questioned the beliefs of the church was either punished severely or given the death penalty. Science was based on facts whereas religious beliefs were just beliefs with no proofs. Due to this many scientists were scared to reveal their theories, but buried deep in the historic books, there were signs that the universe is not restricted to the beliefs of the church.

The church believed that the Earth is just 4 or 5 thousand years old and everything is created by the ultimate creator, God. Everything surrounding us is made by the same and he has control over everything. Every shape and size, all the features are the same because they are given by God. No one ever dared to explore the world to see what was all over the Earth nor did they ever think of any other possibility.

Charles Darwin’s Voyage to the Galápagos Islands. Image Credit: linkedin

Darwin’s thoughts were beyond the church before the voyage but during the voyage, his mindset completely changed. Thinking about the similarities and non-similarities in every being. Like, how are humans and monkeys so similar, or what’s with the likeness of a snake and a lizard? Even though Darwin had sea sickness and got severely ill frequently on the ship, his determination didn’t alter.

He became friends with Robert Fitzroy, the captain of HMS Beagle during his journey. During that time, he read the book Principle of Geology by Charles Lyell. The book contained the evolution of the earth how it was formed, and how its features were formed. This led to Darwin thinking about the formation of humans or rather how they evolved, and what was the starting point of human life.

The Voyage of the Beagle

During his five-year journey, he reached an island named Galapagos in South America. Being an island close to the Amazonian region was inhabited by many species of animals as well as plants that fascinated Darwin. He also visited Australia, where he saw a different variety of animals and plants.

When he observed that the kangaroos in Australia were climbing trees, whereas back in his homeland, monkeys climbed the trees, he felt that they looked and behaved alike. This is where he started his theory on the evolution of life and the theory of natural selection. All his observations, discoveries, and collections were recorded by him in his book,’ The Voyage of the Beagle.’

HMS Beagle Ship. Image Credit: nautilus

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Gradually by the end of summer 1858, Darwin had written a quarter of a million words on evolution but never published them. Then he received a letter that had a compelling effect. Alfred Russel Wallace, an admirer of Darwin, was inspired by Darwin and took off on a tour for his research. Darwin felt like a threat looming over his head. He thought that Wallace could publish the theory before him and take all the credit.

Eventually, Darwin and Wallace worked together on the theory of evolution, and in his book,’ Origin of Species’ had both their names as credit. According to Darwin, humans were descendants of chimpanzees. He observed that chimpanzees had a structure that was bent from the back and humans were straight. This was all because of a change in the DNA of a species due to mutation, in order to survive.

The search of Darwin made many discoveries in evolution which had two aspects namely natural selection and natural inheritance. According to natural selection, it was determined that survival of the fittest is how species survive in nature. Species were evolving in a way to survive in nature, to become stronger. His book,’ On the Origin of Species’ is a very famous book that holds all the theories of his observations and proofs. Though he had to deal with a lot of controversies and criticism for going against religious beliefs, many people believed his theories to be correct.

Charles Darwin wrote many other books but the most famous ones are