Biography:Extremely controversial at the time Darwin's theories now underpin much of modern thought on the natural world.
Darwin established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors.
In a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace they introduced the idea that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.
Darwin published this theory of evolution through natural selection in his book "On the Origins of Species" in 1859. The theory was supported with compelling evidence from his journeys around the world.
By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted Darwin's theory of evolution as a fact.
1838-11-11 Emma Wedgwood accepts English naturalist Charles Darwin's marriage proposal
1839-01-29 English naturalist and "On the Origin of Species" author Charles Darwin (42) marries Emma Wedgwood (41)
Historical Events
1820-05-11 Launch of HMS Beagle, the ship that would later take a young Charles Darwin on his famous scientific voyage
1827-10-15 Charles Darwin admitted to Christ's College, Cambridge
1831-01-22 Charles Darwin takes his Bachelors of Art exam at Christ's College, Cambridge, coming tenth out of 171 candidates
1831-08-24 Naturalist John Henslow writes to Charles Darwin to offer him a place aboard the Admiralty surveying vessel HMS Beagle on a voyage to chart the South American coast
1831-12-27 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board departs England for a survey of South America, a voyage Darwin later said "determined my whole career"
1832-01-16 Charles Darwin lands at Porto Prayo in the Cape Verde islands, the first landing of his HMS Beagle voyage
1832-02-28 Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle, arrives in the town of Salvador in the Brazilian state of Bahia
1832-02-29 Charles Darwin walks through the tropical forests of Bahia in Brazil, describing the experience as being in "transports of pleasure"
1832-04-04 Charles Darwin aboard the HMS Beagle reaches Rio de Janeiro
1832-09-22 During his HMS Beagle voyage Charles Darwin discovers a large number of fossils at Punta Alta in Argentina
1832-12-18 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin aboard reaches Tierra del Fuego for the first time
1833-09-20 Charles Darwin arrives in Buenos Aires after travelling through the Argentine interior with guachos
1834-03-16 Charles Darwin, aboard HMS Beagle, anchors in the recently British-acquired Falklands Islands for the first time
1834-04-29 Charles Darwin's expedition sees the top of the Andes Mountains from Patagonia
1834-08-17 Charles Darwin reaches the top of Campana in Chile during his voyage on the Beagle
1835-05-12 Charles Darwin visits Alexander Caldcleugh’s copper mines at Panuncillo in northern Chile and is impressed by the extraordinary feats of labor performed by the workers
1835-09-15 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin on board reaches the Galapagos Islands
1835-09-17 Charles Darwins lands on Chatham in Galapagos archipelago
1835-11-15 Charles Darwin reaches Tahiti on board HMS Beagle, the location where he would formulate his ideas later written in The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs
1835-11-16 "Extracts from Letters to Henslow", a collection of letters written by Charles Darwin during his voyage on the Beagle, is read to the Cambridge Philosophical Society and later published as a pamphlet
1835-12-19 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin aboard arrives in New Zealand
1836-01-12 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin reaches Sydney, Australia
1836-02-06 HMS Beagle and Charles Darwin arrive in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)
1836-06-01 Charles Darwin returns to Cape Town in South Africa
1836-07-08 Charles Darwin reaches Saint Helena in HMS Beagle and takes up lodgings near the tomb of Napoleon
1836-07-19 HMS Beagle with Charles Darwin arrives in Ascension Island
1836-08-01 As part of their homeward journey on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin returns to Bahia in Brazil
1836-08-17 Charles Darwin leaves South America for the last time on HMS Beagle
1836-10-02 After 5 years at sea Charles Darwin returns to England aboard the HMS Beagle
1839-01-24 Charles Darwin elected Fellow of the Royal Society
1858-07-01 Joint reading of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace's papers on evolution to the Linnean Society renders audience awestruck and silent
1859-11-24 English naturalist Charles Darwin publishes "On the Origin of Species" radically changing the view of evolution and laying the foundation for evolutionary biology
1860-06-30 Famous debate on Charles Darwin's theory of evolution held at the Oxford University Museum and dominated by arguments between Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce
2022-03-09 Stolen notebooks belonging to naturalist Charles Darwin, including his famous 'tree of life' sketch, mysteriously returned after 22 years to Cambridge University Library
2022-12-09 Sheet of paper on which scientist Charles Darwin defended his theory of evolution in 1865 sells for a record $882,000 at Sotheby's
Alexander von Humboldt
Alfred Russel Wallace
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Joseph Banks
Ludwig Leichhardt
Luther Burbank