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Charles Darwin
Three quarter length studio photo showing Darwin's characteristic large forehead and bushy eyebrows with deep set eyes, pug nose and mouth set in a determined look. He is bald on top, with dark hair and long side whiskers but no beard or moustache. His jacket is dark, with very wide lapels, and his trousers are a light check pattern. His shirt has an upright wing collar, and his cravat is tucked into his waistcoat which is a light fine checked pattern.
Darwin, aged 45 in 1854, by then working towards publication of On the Origin of Species
Born Charles Robert Darwin
12 February 1809
The Mount, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, United Kingdom
Died 19 April 1882 (aged 73)
Down House, Luxted Road, Downe, Kent, UK
Residence England
Citizenship British
Nationality British
Fields Natural history, Geology
Institutions tertiary education:
University of Edinburgh Medical School (medicine)
University of Cambridge (ordinary Bachelor of Arts) professional institution:
Geological Society of London
Academic advisors John Stevens Henslow
Adam Sedgwick
Known for The Voyage of the Beagle
On the Origin of Species evolution by natural selection, common descent
Influences Alexander von Humboldt
John Herschel
Charles Lyell
Influenced Joseph Dalton Hooker
Thomas Henry Huxley
George Romanes
Ernst Haeckel
Sir John Lubbock
Notable awards Royal Medal (1853)
Wollaston Medal (1859)
Copley Medal (1864)
Spouse Emma Darwin (married 1839)
Children 10 children (see list)
Signature
"Charles Darwin", with the surname underlined by a downward curve that mimics the curve of the initial "C"
Charles Robert Darwin, FRS (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist and geologist,[1] best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory.[I] He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors,[2] and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding.[3]
Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species.[4][5] By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However, many favoured competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution.[6][7] In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life.[8][9]
Darwin's early