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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.

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.

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.