Founder of Evolutionary Theory:

Charles Darwin

Main Life Accomplishments:

English naturalist, author of the Origin of Species, born at Shrewsbury on the 12th of February 1809. He was the younger of the two sons and the fourth child of Robert Waring Darwin, son of Erasmus Darwin. His mother, a daughter of Josiah Wedgwood, died when Charles Darwin was eight years old. Charles Darwin's elder brother, Erasmus Alvey (1804-1881), was interested in literature and art rather than science; on the subject of the wide difference between the brothers Charles wrote that he was "inclined to agree with Francis Galton in believing that education and environment produce only a small effect on the mind of anyone, and that most of our qualities are innate" (Life and Letters, London, 1887).

Darwin considered that his own success was chiefly due to "the love of science, unbounded patience in long reflecting over any subject, industry in observing and collecting facts, and a fair share of invention as well as of common sense." He also says: "I have steadily endeavored to keep my mind free so as to give up any hypothesis, however much beloved (and I cannot resist forming one on every subject), as soon as facts are shown to be opposed to it." The essential causes of his success are to be found in this latter sentence, the creative genius ever inspired by existing knowledge to build, hypotheses by whose aid further knowledge could be won, the calm unbiassed mind, the transparent honesty and love of truth which enabled him to abandon or to modify his own creations when they ceased to be supported by observation. The even balance between these powers was as important as their remarkable development.

The great naturalist appeared in the ripeness of time, when the world was ready for his splendid generalizations. Indeed naturalists were already everywhere considering and discussing the problem of evolution, although Alfred Russel Wallace was the only one who, independently of Darwin, saw his way clearly to the solution. It is true that hypotheses essentially the same as natural selection were suggested much earlier by W. C. Wells (Phil. Trans., 1813), and Patrick Matthew (Naval Timber and Arboriculture, 1831), but their views were lost sight of and produced no effect upon the great body of naturalists. In the preparation for Darwin Sir Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology played an important part, accustoming men's minds to the vast changes brought about by natural processes, and leading them, by its lucid and temperate discussion of Lamarck's and other views, to reflect upon evolution.

 

Basics:

Born:  12 February 1809(1809-02-12) Mount House, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England

Died:  19 April 1882 (aged 73) Down House, Downe, Kent, England

Nationality:  British

Religion:   Agnostic

Fields:  Science

Main Accomplishments:  Proposed theory of evolution via natural selection.
 

Chronology of Life Events:

February 12, 1809

Born at Shrewsbury.

1825 - 1827

Attends Edinburgh University.

1827- 1827

March Contributed two scientific papers to the radical student Plinian Society.

1827 1831

Attends Christ's College, Cambridge University.

January 29, 1839

Marries cousin Emma Wedgwood.

1842

Published The structure and distribution of coral reefs

June 18, 1858

Receives letter from Alfred Russel Wallace discussing very similar theory of evolution prompts Darwin to go public at last.

1877

Publishes "A Biographical Sketch of an Infant" & The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species

1881

Publishes The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits.

1882

Dies at Down House, buried in Westminster Cathedral.
 

Early Life:

Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England on 12 February 1809 at his family home, the Mount.[10] He was the fifth of six children of wealthy society doctor and financier Robert Darwin, and Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood). He was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin on his father’s side, and of Josiah Wedgwood on his mother’s side. Both families were largely Unitarian, though the Wedgwoods were adopting Anglicanism. Robert Darwin, himself quietly a freethinker, made a nod toward convention by having baby Charles baptised in the Anglican Church. Nonetheless, Charles and his siblings attended the Unitarian chapel with their mother, and in 1817, Charles joined the day school, run by its preacher. In July of that year, when Charles was eight years old, his mother died. From September 1818, he joined his older brother Erasmus attending the nearby Anglican Shrewsbury School as a boarder.[11]

Darwin spent the summer of 1825 as an apprentice doctor, helping his father treat the poor of Shropshire. In the autumn, he went to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine, accompantied by Erasmus, but he was revolted by the brutality of surgery and neglected his medical studies. He learned taxidermy from John Edmonstone, a freed black slave who told him exciting tales of the South American rainforest. Later, in The Descent of Man, he used this experience as evidence that “Negroes and Europeans” were closely related despite superficial differences in appearance.[12]

In Darwin’s second year, he joined the Plinian Society, a student group interested in natural history.[13] He became a keen pupil of Robert Edmund Grant, a proponent of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of evolution by acquired characteristics, which Charles’s grandfather Erasmus had also advocated. On the shores of the Firth of Forth, Darwin joined in Grant’s investigations of the life cycle of marine animals. These studies found evidence for homology, the radical theory that all animals have similar organs which differ only in complexity, thus showing common descent.[14] In March 1827, Darwin made a presentation to the Plinian of his own discovery that the black spores often found in oyster shells were the eggs of a skate leech.[15] He also sat in on Robert Jameson’s natural history course, learning about stratigraphic geology, receiving training in classifying plants, and assisting with work on the extensive collections of the University Museum, one of the largest museums in Europe at the time.[16]

In 1827, his father, unhappy at his younger son’s lack of progress, shrewdly enrolled him in a Bachelor of Arts course at Christ’s College, Cambridge to qualify as a clergyman, expecting him to get a good income as an Anglican parson.[17] However, Darwin preferred riding and shooting to studying.[18] Along with his cousin William Darwin Fox, he became engrossed in the craze at the time for the competitive collecting of beetles.[19] Fox introduced him to the Reverend John Stevens Henslow, professor of botany, for expert advice on beetles. Darwin subsequently joined Henslow’s natural history course and became his favourite pupil, known to the dons as “the man who walks with Henslow”.[20][21] When exams drew near, Darwin focused on his studies and received private instruction from Henslow. Darwin was particularly enthusiastic about the writings of William Paley, including the argument for divine design in nature.[22] It has been argued that Darwin’s enthusiasm for Paley’s religious adaptationism paradoxically played a role even later, when Darwin formulated his theory of natural selection.[23] In his finals in January 1831, he performed well in theology and, having scraped through in classics, mathematics and physics, came tenth out of a pass list of 178.[24]

Residential requirements kept Darwin at Cambridge until June. Following Henslow’s example and advice, he was in no rush to take Holy Orders. Inspired by Alexander von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative, he planned to visit Tenerife with some classmates after graduation to study natural history in the tropics. To prepare himself, Darwin joined the geology course of the Reverend Adam Sedgwick and, in the summer, went with him to assist in mapping strata in Wales.[25] After a fortnight with student friends at Barmouth, he returned home to find a letter from Henslow recommending Darwin as a suitable (if unfinished) naturalist for the unpaid position of gentleman’s companion to Robert FitzRoy, the captain of HMS Beagle, which was to leave in four weeks on an expedition to chart the coastline of South America. His father objected to the planned two-year voyage, regarding it as a waste of time, but was persuaded by his brother-in-law, Josiah Wedgwood, to agree to his son’s participation.[26]

 

Wife Background:

Emma Darwin (née Wedgwood, 2 May 1808–7 October 1896) was the wife of the English naturalist Charles Darwin (they were also cousins), and mother of their ten children.

 

Emma herself had turned down several offers of marriage, but after her mother suffered a seizure and became bedridden Emma had to nurse her as well as looking after her elder sister Elizabeth who was dwarfish and had severe spinal curvature.

She accepted Charles' marriage proposal on 11 November 1838, at the age of 30, and they were married on 29 January 1839 at St. Peter's Anglican Church in Maer, Staffordshire. Their cousin, the Reverend John Allen Wedgwood officiated. Following a brief period of residence in London, they moved permanently to Down House, located in what was then the rural village of Down, close to the city.

Charles and Emma had ten children. They raised them in a distinctly non-authoritarian manner, and several of them later achieved considerable success in their chosen careers. Sir George Darwin, for example, became a scientist.

 

Father Background:

Dr Robert Waring Darwin, F.R.S. (30 May 1766 - 13 November 1848) was a Shrewsbury-based medical doctor, today best known as the father of the naturalist Charles Darwin.

 

Darwin was born in Lichfield in 1766, the son of Erasmus Darwin and his first wife Mary Howard. He was named after his uncle, Robert Waring Darwin of Elston (1724-1816), a bachelor. His mother died in 1770 and Mary Parker, the governess hired to look after him became his father's mistress and bore Erasmus two illegitimate daughters.

Darwin studied medicine at the University of Leiden, and took his MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1786, when he was only 20. In Edinburgh he studied under several leading scholars, including John Walker. He held his experience in Edinburgh in such high regard that he sent his son Charles to study there.

 

On 18 April 1796 he married Susannah Wedgwood, daughter of the potter Josiah Wedgwood at in St Marylebone, Middlesex, and they had six children:

 

Mother Background:

Susannah Darwin (née Wedgwood 1765-1817) was the wife of Robert Darwin, and mother of Charles Darwin, and part of the Wedgwood pottery family. She was the daughter of Josiah and Sarah Wedgwood.

 
 
SuperAttainer

ANALYSIS SECTION:

 
 
1. Early Success
 

When did the SuperAttainer first display ability that was greatly above average and what were his accomplishments? 
 

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2. Contrarian

 
What actions did the SuperAttainer take that demonstrated a mindset that was very different from those around him?
 

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3. Conceited
 
What are the actions and documented statements that exhibit an elevated sense of self importance of the SuperAttainer? 
 
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4. Hard-Knocked 
 
During what events did the SuperAttainer experience personal misery and severe anxiety?
  

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5. Loner
 
Is there evidence of the SuperAttainer being comfortable spending time apart from others? 
 

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6. Mentored & Motivated
 
Who was vital to developing the SuperAttainer and guiding his career and what significant actions were taken?
 

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7. Discontent
 
What evidence is there that the SuperAttainer was unsatisfied with even great personal accomplishment?
 

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8. Promoted
 
What actions or events were responsible for publicizing the tremendous achievements and abilities of the SuperAttainer?
 

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Overall Score:

x out of 8 = xx% 

PASS

SuperAttainer Type:

Describe the factors in the SuperAttainer’s background to indicate whether he is a Come-From-Nothing or Aristocratic type..

Conclusion:

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