1809-1882

English Naturalist

Charles Robert Darwin is best known for his hypothesis that natural selection is the driving force behind evolution. Although the idea that species evolve over time was not a new one, Darwin's famous work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859), brought public attention to the hypothesis and presented a field of evidence for natural selection. Simultaneously and independently, fellow scientist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) presented similar findings.

Charles Darwin. (The Library of Congress. Reproduced by permission.)

Darwin grew up in Shrewsbury, England, the fifth of eight children to Robert and Susannah Darwin. His grandfathers were quite famous—Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) was a noted physician and poet, and Josiah Wedgewood was known for his porcelain—although both died before his birth. Although he initially enrolled for his higher education at Edinburgh University in medicine, his interests as a...