What is charles darwin famous for

Biography

Perhaps no one has influenced our knowledge of the natural world as much as English naturalist Charles Darwin (). His theory of evolution by natural selection, now the unifying theory of the life sciences, explained where all of the astonishingly diverse kinds of living things came from and how they became exquisitely adapted to their particular environments.

His theory reconciled a host of diverse kinds of evidence such as the progressive fossil record, geographical distribution of species, recapitulative appearances in embryology, homologous structures, vestigial organs and nesting taxonomic relationships.

Charles darwin biography amazon Foreign language first editions of some works by Charles Darwin. Darwin noticed on the trip that certain types of organisms existed only in certain areas and that many organisms had gone through changes that made it easier for them to survive in certain environments. With The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex Darwin caused another uproar by suggesting that humans and apes both could be traced to a common ancestor. Yet even without his evolutionary works, Darwin's accomplishments would be difficult to match.

No other explanation before or since has made sense of these facts.
In further works Darwin demonstrated that the difference between humans and other animals is one of degree not kind. In geology, palaeontology, zoology, ecology, taxonomy, botany, philosophy, anthropology, psychology, literature and theology Darwin's writings produced profound reactions, many of which are still ongoing.

Yet even without his evolutionary works, Darwin's accomplishments would be difficult to match. His brilliantly original work in geology, botany, biogeography, invertebrate zoology, psychology and scientific travel writing would still make him one of the most original and influential workers in the history of science.

As the recent book Darwin: A Companion demonstrates beyond doubt, Darwin is the most influential man of science who ever lived.

Darwin's writings are consequently of interest to an extremely large number and wide variety of readers.

Charles darwin biography and work By artificially selecting features - crossing birds with particular characteristics to generate different offspring - he gathered valuable evidence for evolution by natural selection. Media Credits The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. Four of their sons became prominent scientists. For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service.

This site contains the largest collection of his writings ever created with thousands of new discoveries available nowhere else and thousands of publications by other writers about Darwin and his influence. See his complete Publications and Manuscripts.

Darwin Online is the only source in the world for the complete works of Charles Darwin- see his Publications and Papers & Manuscripts.

&#; Darwin: A biographical sketch

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See also:

Darwin's personal 'Journal'.

IntroductionText & image

The most useful reference work ever published for almost anything relating to Darwin with thousands of new discoveries is:

Paul van Helvert & John van Wyhe, Darwin: A Companion ().

Charles darwin biography for kids This means that species that are closely related are found close together stemming from the same branch. While he continued his studies in theology at Cambridge, it was his focus on natural history that became his passion. The work that Darwin did was just an added bonus. Media If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer.

See in Darwin Online: Freeman, Charles Darwin: A companion. 2d ed. Text

For more detailed accounts of Darwin's life on this site see:

The autobiography of Charles Darwin. Text

The life and letters of Charles Darwin ().

Charles darwin biography books Darwin, Francis, ed. Lyell and Hooker arranged for a reading of a combined paper by Wallace and Darwin, and it was presented at a meeting of the Linnaean Society in London, England, on July 1. Learn from our world-leading experts Darwin spent much of the trip on land collecting samples of plants, animals, rocks, and fossils.


Vol. 1 Text Vol. 2 Text Vol. 3 Text

More letters of Charles Darwin ().
Vol. 1. Text Vol. 2. Text

* Very many other biographies of Darwin are available in the supplementary works.

John van Wyhe