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Known for
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Proposing the theory of natural selection
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Career
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1831 Graduated from the University of Cambridge with a degree in theology
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1831-1836 Sailed around the world as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle |
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1839 Published notebooks containing meticulous observations of animal and plant species and geology made during the Beagle voyage
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1858 Published a paper introducing his ideas on natural selection; the paper was presented to the Linnaean Society, a scientific organization in London, concurrently with a similar paper by British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace
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1859 Published On the Origin of Species, his complete theory of natural selection
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1871 Published The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, which explicitly stated that humans are descended from apes
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1872 Published The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals |
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Did You Know
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Prior to the publication of Darwin's ideas, most people believed that species were eternally unchanging.
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By implying that humans had evolved just like other species, On the Origin of Species directly contradicted orthodox theological opinion.
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British naturalist Alfred Wallace independently conceived a theory of natural selection identical to Darwin's; both Darwin's and Wallace's theories were presented on the same day in 1858 to the Linnean Society of London.
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Initially a medical student at Edinburgh University, Darwin dropped out and entered the University of Cambridge, where he became an unenthusiastic student of theology.
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Darwin's father almost prohibited him from joining the Beagle voyage in 1831, for fear that it might lead him away from a future in the clergy.
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