Darwin's Visit

Growing up in England Charles Darwin was a curious boy. He had been an amateur naturalist collecting and identifying beetles. Charles continued his interest in the natural sciences attending Edinburgh University to study medicine, but changed his mind and moved to Cambridge to study theology. He was not a spectacular young man, but was from a wealthy family; his maternal grandfather Josiah Wedgewood's china is still world known.

While studying theology he befriended Adam Sedgwick, a geologist and John Stevens Henslow, a naturalist who would change his life. Henslow taught Darwin to observe natural phenomenon and collect specimens. Henslow also introduced Darwin to Captain Fitzroy and arranged for him to join the scientific voyage on the HMS Beagle as the ship's naturalist.

The Beagle circled the globe studying geologic, meteorological, and oceanic information. During the 5 years they were at sea Darwin studied the animals, plants, land formations and fossils from the many areas the boat visited. He kept a journal of his observations and collected specimens for further study.

During a 5-week period the Beagle visited the Galapagos Islands where Darwin studied the flora and fauna. His observations included the finch now known as Darwin's Finches. The islands are home to 13 species of finch all of which have adapted to their habitat and the size and shape of their bills reflect their specializations. Darwin noted the similarities and differences in his journal and organized the finch as part of his collection.

By the time Darwin had left the islands a theory had developed. His observations brought him to conclude that flora and fauna evolve over time in a process of natural selection. The species, to survive, would gradually alter based on environmental conditions. Darwin spent the next 20 years of his life gathering supporting evidence and in 1859 he published On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection.

The theory was first announced in 1858, the book sold out on the day it was released. The world was astounded by his controversial conclusions. Scientific journals and newspapers attacked him, but most of the attacks came from the religious world. Those people who Darwin had studied with earlier attacked him as a heretic.

Darwin continued to work on his theory expanding his writings to 10 more books all stemming from a common theme of evolution. His works won the support of naturalists, but it was not until the birth of modern genetics that many scientists began to understand and accept Darwin's theory.

In 1959, the 100-year celebration of the publishing of Darwin's first book the Charles Darwin Foundation and Galapagos National Park were created. A few years later the Charles Darwin Research Station with its research vessel the Beagle was established to inform the world about Darwin's theories and the Galapagos Islands place as Darwin's Laboratory in Evolution.