“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.” – Charles Darwin

One of my favourite scientists is Charles Darwin. He lived from 1809 – 1882 and has made huge achievements in the evolutionary biology, with the Evolutionary Theory, which made him one of the most distinguished natural scientists of all times.

In school he wasn’t one of the outstanding brains – a rather a little less than average student but he was always somehow connected to science. His grandfather Erasmus Darwin already wrote a book in which he didn’t foreclose a relationship between the different types of animals. The book though was forbidden by the Catholic Church.

After finishing school Charles Darwin started studying medicine but stopped it fairly quickly due to his antipathy of dissection and the cruel operational methods. His concerned father enrolled him in the theology studies instead. Charles Darwin followed his father’s wishes but was mainly interested in the biology courses which were at that time still part of the theology studies.

In 1831 Darwin’s life started to change dramatically. His former biology professor, John Stevens Henslow, suggested him as the scientific companion on the HMS Beagle which was a British ship which did surveys and charter duties for the British Navy. The following five years Charles Darwin spent on the HMS Beagle exploring the world.

When he returned he had not only a giant tortoise is in luggage but also lots of records, fossils and other findings which were the base of his famous publication “On the origin of species”. Until now it is still a controversial book because contradictory to the way of how the church described the development of the species, Charles Darwin states that it is due to the relationship of the animals in which due to natural selection only the Fittest one, the one which adapted the best to its environment, could survive and pass on its genetic information to the next generation.

That was only a short overview of the Darwin’s achievements but I believe that it is very difficult to express the complex biological terms in an easy manner. For further information I can highly recommend you the book “Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species” Last year we celebrated Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the release of “The Origin of Species”.

Advertisement