Theories And Ideas Of Charles Darwin example essay topic

Charles Robert Darwin The controversial argument between what man has grown up believing and the facts of science would set a landmark in the modern scientific community today. This landmark would be set in history by the English naturalist Charles Robert Darwin and his theory of man's evolving genes in natural selection. Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. He was the fifth child and second son of Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. Charles Darwin's father, Dr. Robert Darwin, was a well respected figure in Shrewsbury by both rich and poor. Dr. Robert Darwin was also a member of well-read people with strong Whig leanings.

A Whig is a person that belonged to the Wig Party that championed for parliamentary reform. As a young child Charles, in his mind, was not a normal child for he was fond of doing very strange things. Some of these weird things were like the time when he beat a puppy just for the feeling of power. Another one of the strange things that Charles as a child did was that he would collect eggs but only take one egg from a bird nest at a time. The education that Charles received as a child was at first from his sister before going to day school. Unsucceful at school he was removed two years before completion.

That summer he spent his time accompanying a doctor on his rounds. Later that year he went with his brother to Edinburgh University. Edinburgh University is England's best University for medicine. The Darwins had been studying medicine there for three generations. This knowledge of medicine would come to great use when dissecting specimens. Charles Darwin had heard many times during his childhood from his father that, "people with powerful minds generally had memories that extended far back into there very early period of life".

Thus this statement that Charles heard from his father led him to believe he had a very powerful mind. This one statement is one of the many things that started Charles to become a great scientist. The ideas of the evolving genes through natural selection, or evolution, is described as the complex processes by which living organisms originating on earth that have been diversified and modified through sustained changes in form and function. This theory, unlike the theory of creation, which states that the complexity of life and different species can only be explained in terms of a supernatural creator or god who placed life on earth. The theory of evolution has a plethora of evidence proving it to be true, unlike creation which is an idea not a fact of science. This surplus of evidence, though strong and many, still would not be easy for Charles to influence the modern day scientific community.

Since it had already been tried and rejected, Charles Darwin had to gather physical evidence to prove his ideas were not utterly farcical. This evidence that Charles would collect would come from his travels on the HMS Beagle. The travels aboard the Beagle took five years, from 1831 to 1836, two thirds of which Darwin spent exploring on land because of sea sickness. On land Darwin collected a number of specimens for his evidence from a rich variety of geological features. Fossils, living organisms and a wide range of people, both native and colonial, were some of the many things collected by Darwin in his notebooks. He methodically collected an enormous number of specimens, many of them new to science.

This established his reputation as a naturalist and made him one of the precursors of the field of ecology, particularly the notion of biocoenosis. Biocoenosis is the science of plants and animals living together in a biological or ecological community. His extensive detailed notes showed his gift for theorising and formed the basis for his later work, as well as providing social, political and anthropological insights into the areas he visited. Aboard the Beagle, Charles Darwin read the Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology. The book Principles of Geology explained geological features as the outcome of gradual processes over huge periods of time.

After reading the book Charles Darwin wrote in his journal that he was seeing landforms as though he had the eyes of Lyell. Some of these landforms that he saw were stepped plains of shingle and seashells in Patagonia as raised beaches; in Chile, he experienced an earthquake and noted mussel beds stranded above high tide showing that the land had been raised; and even high in the Andes, he was able to collect seashells. He theorise d that coral atolls form on sinking volcanic mountains, an idea he confirmed when the Beagle surveyed the Keeling Islands. While in South America Charles discovered on the Gal " apagos Islands that mockingbirds differed from one island to another, and on returning to Britain he was shown that Gal " apagos tortoises and finches were also in distinct species based on the individual islands they inhabited. He puzzled over all he saw in his notes he explained species distribution in light of Charles Lyell's ideas of centuries of creation. Later on he foreshadowed his use of Gal " apagos Islands fauna as evidence for evolution against the publics view from religion of creation.

After he was back in Britain he collected all of his notes and sketches and in May 1839 Charles Darwin published his Beagle voyage diary as Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836. After reading Charles Darwins books the scientific community wanted more information of Darwin's voyages on the Beagle. Darwin responded immediately with more publications of his diary. The first edition of the journal was printed three times due to demand. During this time he married his cousin Emma Wedgwood.

They moved to Kent and had eight children. Seven of who lived to adulthood. Charles's eighth child Annie died at an early age due to tuberculosis. In a recant study Randal Canes has suggested that Darwin's bitter grief at his daughter's death pushed him toward agnosticism.

Then on July 1858 he wrote an abstract of natural selection that was meant to be an essay but soon turned into a book. In April 1859 Darwin completed On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection. November 1859 the book sold out due to popularity and a reprint was immediately established. During the books time of publication till death Darwin was in very poor health. Charles Darwin died of a heart attack in April 1882 at the age seventy-three while living in London. When Charles Darwin died his work did not.

The theories and ideas of Charles Darwin were only made famous due to the fact he that he published On the Origins of Species by Means of Natural Selection. His theories sparked new ideas and new controversy over what the facts of science stated and what people believed under the influence of religion... One major example that Charles Darwin's works did not just fade away is the Scopes vs. Monkey trial. In the Scopes vs. Monkey trial a teacher wanted to teach children evolution, but was not allowed because the parents were influenced by religion, not science.