Charles Darwin 1809 – 1882
Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist whose work transformed the life sciences and reshaped Western thought. His five-year voyage on HMS Beagle furnished the observations and the questions that, after twenty more years of work, became On the Origin of Species, published in 1859. The book proposed a single mechanism, natural selection acting on heritable variation, capable of explaining the diversity and adaptedness of life without recourse to design. The Descent of Man extended the argument to human beings. Darwin's theory and its subsequent extensions have become the unifying framework of modern biology.
Key facts
- Nationality
- English
- Era
- Modern
- Movements
- Empiricism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one.”
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Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“False views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm; for everyone takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness.”
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Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”
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Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.”
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Attributed to Charles Darwin:
“We will now discuss in a little more detail the struggle for existence.”