1) Charles Darwin was a British naturalist born in 1809 who studied medicine and divinity before joining a scientific expedition on the HMS Beagle as their geologist from 1831-1836. 2) While traveling on the Beagle, Darwin was influenced by the ideas of Charles Lyell and observed unique species of finches on the Galapagos Islands, sparking his theory of evolution by natural selection. 3) After corresponding with Alfred Russel Wallace, Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, introducing his theory that organisms change over generations through a process of natural selection, survival of the fittest, and gradual speciation from common ancestors.

1. Unit: Evolution Lesson: CHARLES DARWIN Overview : A look at the life and times of Charles Darwin.

2. Unit: Evolution

3. Unit: Evolution Charles Darwin was born in England on February 12, 1809. His family was educated and well to do (his grandfather was the maker of Wedgwood china).

4. Unit: Evolution Darwin studied medicine at Edinburgh University but later switched to divinity at Cambridge.

5. Unit: Evolution In 1831, he joined a 5 year scientific expedition on the survey ship HMS Beagle as their geologist.

6. Unit: Evolution The voyage was quite extensive…

7. Unit: Evolution At that time, the majority of the population in Europe believed that God had created the world in 7 days, as described in the Bible.

8. Unit: Evolution The idea of evolution had been around for a long time (even before Darwin) and most people (including Darwin) dismissed it due to several reasons:

9. Unit: Evolution The lack of a real need (was such a theory really needed?) insufficient time to accomplish significant change (given the supposed 6000 years of Earth history, based on theological interpretations) lack of any real mechanism that might drive evolutionary change

10. Unit: Evolution While on the Beagle, Darwin read a book called “Principles of Geology” by Charles Lyell.

11. Unit: Evolution Lyell suggested that the fossils found in rocks were actually evidence of animals that had lived many thousands or millions of years ago. Lyell's argument was reinforced in Darwin's own mind by the rich variety of animal life and the geological features he saw during his voyage.

12. Unit: Evolution The breakthrough in his ideas came in the Galapagos Islands, 500 miles west of South America.

13. Unit: Evolution Darwin noticed that each island supported its own form of finch which were closely related but differed in important ways.

14. Unit: Evolution Finches Video

15. Unit: Evolution On his return to England in 1836, Darwin tried to solve the riddles of these observations and the puzzle of how species could evolve.

16. Unit: Evolution Another scholar of the time, Thomas Malthus , studied populations and had a great impact on Darwin’s understanding of finches, other organisms, and his theory of evolution.

17. Unit: Evolution Malthus believed that given unlimited resources, a population would grow exponentially. Under normal conditions, a natural population would be limited by food, water, habitat, etc. resulting in a balancing of population numbers.

18. Unit: Evolution Influenced by the ideas of Malthus, Darwin proposed a theory of evolution occurring by the process of natural selection .

19. Unit: Evolution The animals (or plants) best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on the characteristics which helped them survive to their offspring. Gradually, the species changes over time.

20. Unit: Evolution Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years. After learning that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace , had developed similar ideas, the two made a joint announcement of their discovery in 1858.

21. Unit: Evolution In 1859 Darwin published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'.

22. Unit: Evolution The book was extremely controversial, because the logical extension of Darwin's theory was that Homo sapiens was simply another form of animal.

23. Unit: Evolution It made it seem possible that even people might just have evolved quite possibly from apes – and destroyed the prevailing religious orthodoxy on how the world was created.

24. Unit: Evolution And so the debate began…

31. Unit: Evolution He published numerous other books. He examined human evolution and sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex , followed by The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals .

32. Unit: Evolution His research on plants was published in a series of books, and in his final book, he examined earthworms and their effect on soil.

33. Unit: Evolution Charles Darwin died on April 19,1882 and was buried in Westminster Abbey alongside Sir Isaac Newton.