@charles_darwin

Charles Darwin

I am a naturalist, geologist and biologist. My research showed that all species of life descend from a common ancestor, and with Alfred Russel Wallace I introduced natural selection as the process that drives that branching.

Proof · case studies

Cases

The situation, the work, the outcome. Ranked by how much the work proves.

I spent five years as naturalist on HMS Beagle

1831 — 1836

Situation

I joined Captain Robert FitzRoy's survey as a self-funded naturalist and stayed in a private capacity so I kept control of my collections for a major scientific institution.

Action

From 1831 to 1836 I worked ashore while HMS Beagle charted the South American coast, investigating geology, collecting specimens and keeping careful notes. That fieldwork became the evidence base for all of my later science.

Outcome

Systematic field research and disciplined note-taking produced the data that later overturned the fixity of species.

natural historyfield researchgeology

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Eight years of barnacles earned me the Royal Medal

1846 — 1854

Situation

A puzzling Chilean barnacle collected in 1835, which I called Mr. Arthrobalanus, drew me into the systematics of the whole group.

Action

From 1846 I dissected and classified the barnacles from my voyage, producing the definitive work on the group. Using my theory I found homologies and tiny parasitic males, and in 1853 the research won the Royal Society's Royal Medal.

Outcome

Deep taxonomy research made my reputation as a biologist and tested my theory against hard anatomical evidence.

taxonomymarine invertebratesevolutionary biology

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I published On the Origin of Species in 1859

1856 — 1859

Situation

Lyell urged me to publish to establish precedence; Lyell and Joseph Hooker arranged the joint presentation with Wallace, and Lyell secured John Murray as publisher.

Action

After Wallace's parallel work forced the issue, our theory was read at the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858. Thirteen months later I finished On the Origin of Species, whose 1,250 copies were oversubscribed on its first day of sale.

Outcome

I can compress twenty years of research into one long argument that anticipates its objections and reaches a wide public.

scientific publishingnatural selectionevolutionary biology

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I derived natural selection from Malthus and breeders

1838 — 1838

Situation

I had been privately keeping transmutation notebooks since 1837, testing how species might change to explain the distribution of rheas, tortoises and mockingbirds.

Action

In 1838 I combined Malthus's principle of population with the struggle for existence in nature, then saw that nature selects among chance variants the way farmers select breeding stock. I named the mechanism natural selection.

Outcome

Borrowing a model from population research and an analogy from agriculture gave biology its first natural mechanism for new species.

natural selectionevolutionary biologypopulation

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How I tested natural selection with an orchid

1861 — 1862

In my 1861–62 orchid research I used natural selection to make a testable prediction: a Madagascar orchid with a sixteen-inch nectary implied an unseen moth with a proboscis long enough to drain it.

botanynatural selectionscientific method

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How I gathered evidence from breeders and correspondents

1837 — 1868

I built my research data by questioning expert naturalists and, unconventionally, farmers and pigeon fanciers, then ran my own selective-breeding experiments and a worldwide correspondence network.

scientific methodselective breedingcollaboration

Open card

Proof · case studies

Cases

The situation, the work, the outcome. Ranked by how much the work proves.

I spent five years as naturalist on HMS Beagle

1831 — 1836

Situation

I joined Captain Robert FitzRoy's survey as a self-funded naturalist and stayed in a private capacity so I kept control of my collections for a major scientific institution.

Action

Outcome

Systematic field research and disciplined note-taking produced the data that later overturned the fixity of species.

natural historyfield researchgeology

Open card

Eight years of barnacles earned me the Royal Medal

1846 — 1854

Situation

A puzzling Chilean barnacle collected in 1835, which I called Mr. Arthrobalanus, drew me into the systematics of the whole group.

Action

Outcome

Deep taxonomy research made my reputation as a biologist and tested my theory against hard anatomical evidence.

taxonomymarine invertebratesevolutionary biology

Open card

I published On the Origin of Species in 1859

1856 — 1859

Situation

Lyell urged me to publish to establish precedence; Lyell and Joseph Hooker arranged the joint presentation with Wallace, and Lyell secured John Murray as publisher.

Action

Outcome

I can compress twenty years of research into one long argument that anticipates its objections and reaches a wide public.

scientific publishingnatural selectionevolutionary biology

Open card

I derived natural selection from Malthus and breeders

1838 — 1838

Situation

I had been privately keeping transmutation notebooks since 1837, testing how species might change to explain the distribution of rheas, tortoises and mockingbirds.

Action

Outcome

Borrowing a model from population research and an analogy from agriculture gave biology its first natural mechanism for new species.

natural selectionevolutionary biologypopulation

Open card

How I tested natural selection with an orchid

1861 — 1862

botanynatural selectionscientific method

Open card

How I gathered evidence from breeders and correspondents

1837 — 1868

I built my research data by questioning expert naturalists and, unconventionally, farmers and pigeon fanciers, then ran my own selective-breeding experiments and a worldwide correspondence network.

scientific methodselective breedingcollaboration

Open card