Download Darwin - Fleming College

Charles Darwin
Darwin in his early
years.
“Man, with all his noble qualities, still bears the
incredible stamp of his lowly origin.”
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Chronology
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The Beagle
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Chronology
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1831 – 36
 Takes the job of unpaid naturalist aboard
HMS Beagle
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1859
 Publishes The Origin of Species
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1871
 Publishes The Descent of Man
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1881
 Dies and is buried in Westminster Abby
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The Spark
Ignited with the 1831 HMS Beagle
expedition
 Was to chart coastlines of South
America and other areas of the Pacific
 At that time was supposedly studying
religion but abandoned university
studies
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The Galapagos
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The Galapagos
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Made many geological and biological observations,
but time spent around the Galapagos had most
significant impact
Ten islands relatively isolated, even from each other
Acted as a series of distinct observatories through
which Darwin could draw comparisons
Noted islands shared many species of flora and fauna
in common, but each land mass often displayed
distinct variations within the same group of
organisms.
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Finch
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Famously noted fourteen different types of finch,
notably with different beaks
In each instance particular beak seemed to best
suite the capture of the bird’s prevalent food
source, whether it be seeds, insects or fish
Surmised that the birds had descended from a
single parent species, rather than each springing
up independently
Thus acknowledge idea of evolution
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Finches
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Finches
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Evolution
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In animal world, only those best adapted to
food collection in their environments would
survive
Those who could not compete would die out
As environments changed and animals
moved about, success criteria would change,
gradually resulting in variations within
species
Ultimately new species would be created
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Evolution Puzzle
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Challenging Notion of God
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Challenged commonly held view of man as
lord of the earth, specifically created and
placed upon planet in God’s image, as
described in the Bible
Darwin anticipated resistance to his ideas
Consequently kept his theories in the dark
for twenty years while he gathered
additional evidence to back up his case
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Darwin and Wallace
Jointly published with Alfred Russell
Wallace in 1858
 Joint public declaration of their
hypotheses by submission of a paper to
the Linnean Society
 Darwin followed up with more detailed
account in 1859 – On The Origin of
Species by Mans of Natural Selection
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Legacy
Darwin’s ideas took long time to come
accepted
 Even today not embraced by everyone
 Encountered particularly fierce
opposition from the Church
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