Darwin and his Theory

Darwin and his Theory
Although the theory of evolution is commonly linked with Charles Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species’ in 1859, many of his idea that Darwin put forth in his book had been discussed for at least a century.

In fact, Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, argued for evolutionary theory before Charles was even born. What The Origin of Species contributed to the theory was a clear statement of the process by which evolution occurs, which we call natural selection.

In 1831 Darwin set out on a round the world voyage on the ship H.M.S Beagle, serving as the ship’s naturalist. Over the next five years he made detailed observations of plants and animals, noting their similarities and differences and comparing them with fossils of extinct species.

From his study of the similarities among existing species around the world, together with the similarities between living and fossil species, he gradually came to the conclusion that some species were related to one another through common lines of descent, a view that clearly challenged the biblical notion of a single Creation of all the various life forms in the world.

It remained for Darwin to pull together loose ends of various theories of evolution that had been discussed in scientific circles for some time and to support his own version with evidence gathered during his voyage on the Beagle.
Darwin and his Theory