#3

“I have called this principle, by which each slight variation, if useful, is preserved, by the term Natural Selection.” This is a quote by Charles Darwin. He is a man whose theories are known by many people.

Charles Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury England, to a Mr. and Mrs. Robert Darwin. Charles started his young life following in his father’s footsteps going to school to study medicine. In 1828 he decided he was not happy with his studies of medicine, so he tried something else a little different. He transferred to Cambridge to take part in training for ministry. While training for ministry Charles Darwin had become friends with a biology professor and took quite an interest in zoology and geology.

He was invited to travel on the H.M.S. beagle and do some research and learn about geology. When on this trip Charles went to the Galopagos Islands. In the islands he collected thirteen types on different finches with similar characteristics. The similarities of the different type of finches led Charles to believe that all the finches came from one common ancestor. On his trip he also studied plants and animals. At every location he had visited, he collected and specimen that he could find for this his further studies when he got back to England.

Darwin had several theories about evolution. He was positive that evolution did occur. His first theory is the slowly but surely theory, which stated that the change of evolution was a slow and gradual process. His second theory is called the premise theory. This theory stated that most of the species we have on the planet today all descended from one common. The theory that had made Charles Darwin famous, the theory that is known by many people is called natural selection. Natural selection theory states that a species trait that increases that particular species chance of surviving will be inherited and favoured over any other trait. These changing traits occurs by mutation is the species gene for that trait. The animals that do not have the inherited trait that will help their chances of surviving, they will eventually become extinct.

It is said that on his deathbed, Charles Darwin recanted everything he had said about evolution. All we know is that he changed the way people feel about history, and evolution.

References:
(January 4, 2010). Lucidcafe: Library, Charles Darwin. http://www2.lucidcafe.com/lucidcafe/library/96feb/darwin.html

Peter Landry. (May 1998). Biographies, Charles Darwin. http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Biographies/Science/Darwin.htm

Natural Selection. http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Natural_selection

Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. http://bioweb.cs.earlham.edu/9-12/evolution/HTML/theory.html