Darwin, Charles (Robert)

Darwin, Charles (Robert)
born Feb. 12, 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.
died April 19, 1882, Downe, Kent

British naturalist.

The grandson of Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and biology at Cambridge. He was recommended as a naturalist on HMS Beagle, which was bound on a long scientific survey expedition to South America and the South Seas (1831–36). His zoological and geological discoveries on the voyage resulted in numerous important publications and formed the basis of his theories of evolution. Seeing competition between individuals of a single species, he recognized that within a local population the individual bird, for example, with the sharper beak might have a better chance to survive and reproduce and that if such traits were passed on to new generations, they would be predominant in future populations. He saw this natural selection as the mechanism by which advantageous variations were passed on to later generations and less advantageous traits gradually disappeared. He worked on his theory for more than 20 years before publishing it in his famous On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859). The book was immediately in great demand, and Darwin's intensely controversial theory was accepted quickly in most scientific circles; most opposition came from religious leaders. Though Darwin's ideas were modified by later developments in genetics and molecular biology, his work remains central to modern evolutionary theory. His many other important works included Variation in Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868) and The Descent of Man... (1871). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. See also Darwinism.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Darwin, Charles (Robert) — (12 feb. 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Inglaterra–19 abr. 1882, Downe, Kent). Naturalista británico. Nieto de Erasmus Darwin y Josiah Wedgwood, estudió medicina en la Universidad de Edimburgo y biología en Cambridge. Fue recomendado para… …   Enciclopedia Universal

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  • Darwin, Charles Robert — ► (1809 82) Naturalista británico. Formuló la teoría de la evolución de las especies. Obras: El origen de las especies por medio de la selección natural y La descendencia humana y la selección sexual, entre otras …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Charles Robert Darwin — Darwin im Alter von 51 Jahren, als er seine Evolutionstheorie veröffentlichte Charles Robert Darwin (* 12. Februar 1809 in Shrewsbury; † 19. April 1882 in Downe) war ein britischer Naturforscher. Er gilt wegen seiner we …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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