Charles Darwin had dropped out of medicine when he joined HMS Beagle for a five year voyage around the world. He collected fossils, plants and animals, and noticed how species changed from island to island. Back home he spent more than 20 years gathering evidence, studying everything from pigeons to barnacles, before publishing On the Origin of Species in 1859. His theory of evolution by natural selection changed how we understand all life on Earth.
★ LEADER
COLLECTION C004 · NO. 022
★ COLLECTION LEADER
Charles Darwin
Evolution Pioneer
EXTRA-ORDINARY TRAIT
FOCUS
JFDI PILLAR
F — FOCUS
COUNTRY & REGION
England (UK & Ireland)
LIFESPAN
1809 – 1882
GENDER
Man
EDITION
No.022
✦ DEFINING MOMENT
Crouched beside a giant tortoise on the Galápagos Islands, notebook in hand, 1835.
✦ ARCHIVAL DOSSIER
The Story
✦ VERIFIED QUOTE
“There is grandeur in this view of life.”
✦ DID YOU KNOW?
He spent eight years studying barnacles before he published his big idea.
✦ YOUR TURN
What could you understand if you stayed with it for 20 years?