Theory of Evolution - Charles Darwin

1. Charles Darwin

2. Introduction
• Charles Darwin, an English Naturalist firmly
established the theory of organic evolution of spices.
• The doctrine of the survival of the fittest showed the
struggle for life between one species and another.
• After Charles Darwin put forward the theory that
men and apes descend from common ancestor, there
arose a series of controversies.
• His theory threatened to shatter the very foundation
of religious belief in God’s having created the world
because Darwin scientifically conducted research
and demonstrated with proof the evolution of plants
and animals and their adoption.
• This doctrine of organic evolution profoundly
influenced the thinking of mankind.

7. Early Life
 Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England,
on February 12, 1809.
 His father Robert Waring Darwin was a wealthy
physician at Shrewsbury.
 His grand father, Erasmus Darwin was a famous
poet, physician and philosopher.
 In 1818, Darwin was educated at Shrewsbury school
where his scholarly career was undistinguished.
 Then Darwin went to Edinburg University to prepare
for the medical profession, but he disliked the subject
and learnt more about natural history.
 In 1828 he went to Christ College, Cambridge with
the idea of becoming a clergy man.

8.  He took a degree in theology in 1831.
 The chief advantage which he gained at Edinburg
and Cambridge was the chance to meet men of
science in all fields.
 The turning point in his career came in 1831, when
the government sent a ship “H.M.S.Beagle” for
surveying expedition in the south Atlantic and
Pacific oceans.
 Darwin joined this expedition as a naturalist
without pay.
 For five years Darwin roamed about seven seas and
carefully noted the fauna, flora and the geology of
many little known islands.

9.  He visited Cape Verne and other Atlantic Islands, the
south American coasts and the Galapagos Islands,
New Zealand, Australia, Tasmania, Keeling Island,
Maldives, Mauritius, St.Helena and Brazil.
 The Galapagos Islands which lie on the coast of
Ecuador on the west coast of South America gave
him an inspiring scientific thought.
 The tiny islands of the place making up the
archipelago where he discovered different kinds of
living species unknown to science.
 Darwin worked patiently and collected specimen
throughout the five years of his voyage.
 In 1836 upon his return to England, the young
naturalist became the secretary of the Geological
society.

13.  In 1839 he married his cousin Emma Wedge Wood
and three years later, the young couple moved to
Downe House, near the village of Downe in Kent.
 Here Darwin lived for the rest of his life.
 The voyage was the real preparation for his lifework.
 The immense collection of specimens was sorted and
arranged in a systematic order.
 His observation on the relationship between
geographically separated animals and time-separated
animals led him to reflect upon the prevailing view of
fixity of species.
 He had also been much impressed by “the manner in
which closely allied animals replace one another” in
South America.

18.  In 1837, he began to collect facts about the formation
of different breeds of domestic animals and plants.
 He observed in his notebook that selection was the
keystone of man’s success in bringing about
variations in different breeds.
 Darwin came to believe that the different species of
animals and plants were due to gradual change.
 Meanwhile he studied “T.R.Malthus” “Essays on the
Principles of Population” which convinced him of
the struggle for existence.
 His continued observation of the habits of animals
and plants at once stuck him that under these
circumstances, favourable variation would tend to be
preserved and the unfavourable ones would tend to
be destroyed.

22.  The result of this would be the formation of a new
species.
 Darwin then set about to put this theory to test and a
reasonably complete theory of organic evolution
emerged in his mind.
 In 1856, he started to write a large treaties on his
view and completed half of it.
 In the meantime in 1858, he received a manuscript
form another naturalist, Alfred Russell Wallace a
scientist who worked in Malaya Archipelago had
came to the same conclusion of organic evolution.
 To Darwin’s dismay, his own theory formulated
many years earlier, was found in Wallace’s
manuscript.

23.  Darwin published his famous theory on November 24,
1859 in his great work “On the Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection”.
 This book was the most important books in the
history of science.
 The whole edition of 1250 copies were sold out on the
day of issue.
 During Darwin’s life time it was translated into many
languages.
 The book had the effect of a bomb.

24. In this work, “Origin of Species”, Darwin presented an
explanation of the working of natural selection which
involves the following stages:
1. All species produce more germ cells, pollen or spores
before they ever reach maturity.
2. The number of individuals in species remained fairly
constant.
3. There must be a high rate of mortality since more
young ones are produced than before they ever reach
maturity.
4. The individuals of a species are not all identical but
show variation.
5. Some variations are better adapted than the other to
fit into the ecological riches of nature.

29. 6. The better-adapted variation will have a better
chance of surviving and of producing offspring than
the less adapted variants.
7. The offspring resemble their parents by hereditary.
8. Therefore each successive generation will tend to
have an increased proportion of better adapted
variations until finally the population will consist only
of the better adapted and the less well-adapted will be
entirely eliminated.

31.  Darwin concluded that species had not been
independently created but had descended like
varieties from other species.
 Another famous work “The Descent of Man” (1871)
contains scientific research for the origin of man
and his history.
 In this book he has presented the evolution of man
from apes.
 The theory of organic evolution burst like a
bombshell upon England.
 The theory was violently attacked by clergymen as it
was contrary to the teachings of the Bible.
 Many people felt that the foundation of religion had
been undermined.

32.  Politically, battle over Darwin’s theory of evolution
was a fight between the liberals and the conservatives
(traditionalists).
 By the end of the 19th century, the evolution theory
had won wide acceptance.
 The strongest supporters found flaws in his
complicated explanation of the reproduction process
in the germ cell.
 Though much of Darwin's original theory has been
revamped or discarded, its influence upon almost
every field of human activity has been immeasurable.
 The history of archaeology and ethnology have
undergone profound changes because of this theory.
 Darwin died on April 19, 1882, and after seven days,
he was buried in Westminster Abbey near the tomb of

35. • Though Darwin’s theory faced sever criticism, the
Church gradually changed its attitude and moved
towards accepting the triumph of science.