Darwin

Charles Darwin

British naturalist

Written by: Adrian J. Desmond Last Updated 3-31-2016

Charles Darwin, in full Charles Robert Darwin (bornFebruary 12, 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England—died April 19, 1882, Downe, Kent), English naturalist whose scientific theory of evolution by natural selection became the foundation of modern evolutionary studies. An affable country gentleman,Darwin at first shocked religious Victorian society by suggesting that animals and humans shared a common ancestry. However, his nonreligious biologyappealed to the rising class of professional scientists, and by the time of his death evolutionary imagery had spread through all of science, literature, and politics. Darwin, himself an agnostic, was accorded the ultimate British accolade of burial in ... (100 of 7,327 words)

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