Darwin
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CHARLES ROBERT, an English naturalist; born in Shrewsbury, Feb. 12, 1809; was the son of Dr. Robert Darwin and grandson of Dr. Erasmus Darwin. He was educated at Shrewsbury School, and at the universities of Edinburgh and Cambridge. He early devoted himself to the study of natural history, and in 1831 he was appointed natu- CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN ralist to the surveying voyage of H. M. S. "Beagle," commanded by Captain (afterward Admiral) Fitzroy. The vessel sailed in December, 1831, and did not return till October, 1836, after having circumnavigated the globe. In 1839 he married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood and henceforth spent the life of a quiet country gentleman, engrossed in scientific pursuits. In 1839 he published his "Journal of Researches During a Voyage Round the World"; in 1842, "Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs"; in 1844, "Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands, Etc."; in 1846, "Geological Observations in South America"; in 1851 and 1854, his "Monograph of the Cirrhipedia," and soon after the "Fossil Lepadridæ and Balænide of Great Britain." In 1859 his name attained its great celebrity by the publication of "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection." This work, scouted and derided though it was at first, worked nothing less than a revolution in biological science. In it for the first time was given a full exposition of the theory of evolution as applied to plants and animals, the origin of species being explained on the hypothesis of natural selection. The rest of his works are largely based on the material he had accumulated for the elaboration of this great theory. The principal are a treatise on the "Fertilization of Orchids" (1862); "Domesticated The Animals and Cultivated Plants; or Principle of Variation, etc., Under Domestication" (1867); "Descent of Man and Variation in Relation to Sex" (1871); "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" (1872); "Insectivorous Plants" (1875); "Cross and Self Fertilization" (1876); "The Power of Movement in Plants" (1880); "The Formation of Vegetable Mold" (1881). He died April 19, 1882, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The life Collier's set out in 1921 still stands in almost every particular: the Beagle sailed in December 1831 and returned in October 1836, and Darwin died on 19 April 1882 and lies in Westminster Abbey. What has moved is the standing of his central idea. When this was written natural selection was in partial eclipse among biologists, many of whom accepted evolution but doubted selection was its main engine; the fusion of Darwin's theory with Mendelian genetics in the 1920s-40s, and then the discovery of DNA's structure in 1953, made selection the organising principle of the life sciences. Down House, the Kentish home from which he wrote the books listed here, is now open to visitors, and his bicentenary in 2009 was marked worldwide.
Written for this edition, 2026.