By the 19th century, Erasmus Darwin's natural philosophy had declined in favor of emerging professional communication styles. Richard Chambers's Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation was another popular expression of the idea of evolution, but not one that took as deep a hold as Darwin's work would.
Darwin was able to collect specimens and ideas He published some observations, and began privately to consider transmutation of species. The Origin of the Origin As early as , Darwin was thinking of the transmutation of species. In , he began writing a formal essay on natural selection and transmutation, but lingered over publishing until , when he was shocked to receive a paper from Alfred Russell Wallace, who had independently originated and described the idea of natural selection.
Eventually, a joint presentation of papers at the Linnean Society was arranged. Neither Wallace nor Darwin attended; Wallace was still on the other side of the world, and Darwin was distracted by the recent death of his child. Reading the Origin of Species The Origin of Species was oversubscribed from the first edition of copies. Today, the world commemorates the th birthday of a man who single-handedly revolutionized biology with an explosive theory that challenged the core of our existence.
Darwin's theory of evolution proposes that humans evolved over millions of years from animal species, specifically apes. Such thinking, which challenged the biblical account that a deity created the Earth in six days, was considered radical, even blasphemous, when Darwin published it in A century and a half later, the legacy of history's most noted naturalist continues to make headlines.
After a contentious debate, the Texas Board of Education is set to vote in March on how evolution should be taught in the state's public schools. Last week, actor-comedian Ben Stein backed out of giving a commencement speech at the University of Vermont because of student complaints about his views challenging evolutionary theory.
A Gallup poll released this week shows that 39 percent of Americans say they "believe in the theory of evolution," while a quarter say they do not believe in the theory, and another 36 percent don't have an opinion either way.
This follows an earlier Gallup poll on the issue, conducted last May, that found only 14 percent of Americans believe that humans developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life. Forty-four percent believe that God created human beings almost overnight within the past 10, years, and another 36 percent believe that God guided humans' evolution from animals over a much longer period of time.
Faith is deeper than that. Darwin devoted much of his adult life to questioning the unquestionable. Born February 12, , in Shrewsbury, England, he earned a degree in theology from Cambridge University and was known for his obsession with collecting things, especially beetles.
His outlook on life changed after he embarked in on a five-year voyage around the world on the HMS Beagle, a British naval ship. His observations during the journey inspired Darwin to develop his theory of natural selection, the process by which organisms that are best adapted to their environment produce more offspring while those less suited eventually die out.
After spending 20 years meticulously crafting and weighing the implications of his theory, Darwin finally went public with his life's work. His seminal book Origin of Species continues to inform the discoveries in biological sciences today. Ask a Librarian. Use of this site implies consent with our Usage Policy. Hamilton Library: Closed. Giving to the Library.
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