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Menu. Main navigation. Life. Work. All Aboard The Beagle! Darwin’s voyage on the Beagle was a key turning point in his life, as he acknowledges in his Autobiography:. ’The yoyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life,

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. How Did The Victorian World Respond To Darwin? When Darwin first wrote to his friend and confidant Joseph Hooker detailing what he modestly called his ‘presumptuous’ and ‘foolish’ work on evolution and

Menu. Main navigation. Barnacles. Darwin was to spend eight hard years on barnacles, toiling away dissecting these tiny creatures under the microscope. The result was a 4 volume monograph on the Cirrepedia, living and extinct – the authoritative

Menu. Main navigation. Welcome! Welcome to the Charles Darwin & Evolution website. This website celebrates the life, work and impact of Charles Darwin. There are lots of articles about who Darwin was, what he did and why he matters. You can also

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. What use is evolution? Many people spend their whole lives carrying out research on evolutionary biology. Governments give scientists millions of pounds to do this research. Why? Apart from the obvious

Menu. Main navigation. Work. For Teachers. Class Trips In Cambridge. Sometimes getting out of the classroom and teaching in a different setting can be great for both students and teachers. Cambridge has a lot of places ideal for educational school

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. The Fossil Record - The Prodigal Son Returns. Darwin seemingly had little faith in the fossil record as a source of evidence for his theory; it was just too incomplete:. ‘I look at the natural

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Evolution And Fish Stocks. Fish and shellfish have long been a vital food source for humans. Historically, fish stocks seemed so plentiful that many thought there were such huge amounts of fish in the sea

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Variation. Understanding how individuals of the same species vary was key to Darwin developing his theory. He had begun noticing variability of individuals during the Beagle Voyage, but it was through his

Menu. Main navigation. Life. Work. Galapagos. The Galapagos holds a special place in the history of evolution, but the story of how the island’s wildlife influenced Darwin’s thought is often misconstrued. Many people imagine the young Charles

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Darwin & Cambridge Today. Young Man! The most common image of Darwin is as an old man with a bushy beard, a bald head, and usually a bit of sour expression on his face. This is a great shame as such images fail to get

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Symbiosis: No Man Is An Island. John Donne once wrote that no man is an island. Biology can go one better and can assert that no organism is an island either! Clearly no organism exists wholly by itself in

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Natural Selection. Natural selection is Darwin’s most famous theory; it states that evolutionary change comes through the production of variation in each generation and differential survival of individuals

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Human Evolution. Please see the corresponding article in the Works section. 2015 Christ's College, Cambridge. Primate 6 Faces by Stephen D. Nash/Conservation International. 1997. Used with permission. 2024.

Menu. Main navigation. Darwin The Philosopher. Darwin is remembered for his brilliant science: in many ways though he was equally gifted in philosophy. He himself made many fundamental changes to the way we approach philosophy, and his work has

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. Science works by continually testing and revising its theories. Darwin's theories on how evolution works have been no exception. 150 years worth of research has shown that Darwin was right, but have also

Menu. Main navigation. Work. For Kids. What Is Evolution? Evolution is the slow process that changes animals and plants and it’s a great piece of science! It describes loads of things in nature like fossils, peacocks' tails, lions’ teeth,

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Trilobites. This case study focuses on a group of extinct early arthropods called trilobites. Trilobites were a hugely successful group and they are the most diverse group recorded in the fossil record, but

Menu. Main navigation. Life. Work. Darwin's Childhood. Born on 12th February 1809 into a wealthy family, Charles Robert Darwin had a pretty ordinary childhood. He didn’t enjoy or do well at school but he had, from an early age, a passion for

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Mimicry. When one species looks very similar to another we say they mimic one another. You’ll be familiar with some common mimics, for example many bee, wasp and hoverfly species mimic each other all

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Flowers. When Darwin first proposed his theory of evolution by natural selection many people collected orchids. Their complicated and delicate flowers were held up by some as an example of nature’s beauty

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. Weismann & Inheritance. Darwin’s theory of natural selection is critical for the modern study of evolution. However, as important as its central idea is, The Origin of Species is not the 'bible' of

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Speciation: The Origin Of Species. Darwin’s great book is titled On the Origin of Species, but some have said this is misleading. Darwin discusses evolution, common descent and natural selection at great

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Hox Genes & Animal Body Plans. Animals have very different body plans. Compare, for example, a centipede to a bird, or a mouse to a fly, and it’s easy to see the differences. How has evolution produced

It was his first lesson in gradualism. He didn’t wait long to put it into practice either.

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. Sexual Selection. In order to leave an evolutionary legacy survival is not enough. Individuals must also reproduce. Over 90% of species reproduce sexually, meaning two individuals from each sex must mate in

Menu. Main navigation. Work. For Kids. Activities & Books For Kids. There are many good children's books and other materials about Darwin's life and evolution. Below is a non-exhaustive list. The Amazing Voyage of Charles Darwin. by Anna Nilsen,

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Evolving Drug Design. Humans are the product of evolution. Many of the diseases we have to put up with are also either the product, or by-product of evolution. Can we turn this on its head and use

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. The Eclipse Of Darwin. Like many revolutionary scientific theories, Darwin's ideas were not accepted immediately. His theory suggested that the origins of life are both cruel and blind - relying on death

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Darwin & Cambridge Today. Cambridge Then & Now. The University of Cambridge celebrates the 800th anniversary of its foundation in 2009. Since Darwin became an undergraduate in 1827 the university has changed rapidly from

Menu. Main navigation. Intelligent Design. Life is complicated. How have the many varied and complex beings come into existence? Why are they so good at scratching out a life in their own particular way? In the eighteenth century William Paley

Menu. Main navigation. Life. Work. Typical Students. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly, Darwin was never really a model student and he didn’t particularly enjoy his university studies, either at Edinburgh or Cambridge. At Edinburgh he spent more time

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Finches & Fishes. Evolution can be a very slow process. Too slow to observe within a human life time? Darwin seemed to think so, but actually we now have numerous examples where long term studies of

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. Life's Orgins. ‘Probably all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from some primordial form, into which life was first breathed’. This is all Darwin says in The

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Updating Darwin. The Modern Synthesis. The Modern Evolutionary Synthesis is the name given to the school of thought which is now broadly accepted by evolutionary scientists around the world. Formal amalgamation

Menu. Main navigation. Darwin, Literature & Language. Darwin’s work quickly captured the minds of many writers. More recently, evolutionary ideas have been used to explore how texts and even languages change over time. Darwin’s work captivated

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Evolution & Conservation. Life on earth is currently undergoing one of the largest mass extinctions our planet has seen. Human activities affect the natural world in a number of ways; we destroy natural

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Applications. Viruses & Vaccines. All of us have experienced an illness caused by a virus at sometime in our life, from flu to verrucas to much worse. Understanding how these viruses evolve is key if we are to be able to

Menu. Main navigation. Work. For Kids. How Do We Know? Darwin’s ideas have been about for 150 years, and they haven’t always been popular. At first scientists played around with several different ideas. But scientists are picky people who love

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Darwin & Cambridge Today. Darwin's time in Cambridge was very important for him. It was here that he met Henslow and Sedgwick, two great scientists, who saw the potential in the young beetle collector and encouraged him

Menu. Main navigation. Life. Work. Later In Life. Darwin had published his great work on evolution. He was recognised as a leading geologist and zoologist, but still Darwin continued to work as vigorously as his health would allow him. He still had

Menu. Main navigation. Bibliography. Darwin was incredibly productive throughout his life. He was limited to working for only a few hours a day for the majority of his life after returning from the Beagle voyage. But despite this he published over

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Transitional Fossils. A lot of people look to the fossil record for evidence of evolution. This is reasonable, if all the species we see today are connected by intermediates there should be some evidence of

In some cases, a non-native species can spread widely, outcompeting the native community, and causing massive ecological and economic damage.

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Antibiotics. The archetypal image of evolution is the ascent of man. This image represents Homo sapiens as a sort of pinnacle of evolutionary achievement. This is probably because, as humans, we like to

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Evolution. What About Wallace? This website is a tribute to the life, work and influence of Charles Darwin. However it would be unfair to omit Alfred Russel Wallace from any discussion of evolution. He co-authored, with

Menu. Main navigation. Darwin's Evolution. On the Origin of Species, written by Charles Robert Darwin and published in November 1859, is the most defining and important book in evolutionary biology. In this book, Darwin argued that different forms

Menu. Main navigation. We are very grateful toand Excellence for helping to fund this project. We wish to thank the Master and fellows of Christ's College, especially Prof. Jim Smith, Prof. Martin Johnson, Rev'd Christopher Woods and those on the

Menu. Main navigation. Work. Case Studies. Peppered Moths & Melanism. Darwin’s ideas of natural selection are well-supported by the fossil record and the relationships between living species, but as evolution is often a slow process the changes

On 28th September 1838 Darwin read Thomas Malthus’ economics book An Essay on the Principle of Population, which stated that the human population grows geometrically, unless somehow checked, and food production