CHARLES DARWIN BIOGRAPHY
Charles Darwin, who was an amazing scientist, became one of the most well
known in human history. Charles, the very smart man, had an unusual interest in the natural world and decided that would be his way forward. His wonderful interest in different species was the reason he came up with the theory of evolution by natural selection. Charles's famous book-'The Theory of Evolution'-written in 1859 has since inspired generations of people to follow the same path as him.
Read more to find out about his amazing life!
Charles's parents were very rich. His dad (Robert Darwin)
was a very successful doctor, his mum (Sukey Wedgwood)
inherited her family's pottery business. Fortunately for
his large family with six children (Charles as the fifth)
they lived in a substantial home - called 'The Mount'-
which was located in Shrewsbury. Growing up
Charles's favourite hobby was collecting things such
as shells, seals, coins and minerals.
The Mount
Tragically, when Charles was only eight, his mother died of stomach cancer. From then his sisters taught him from home but he was totally miserable. All he wanted to do was go outside and do what he loved...explore and collect. His elder brother, called Ras (short for Erasmus) was lively and mischievous and always encouraged Charles to experiment, burn chemicals or grow crystals. Not long after he turned nine, he was sent to boarding school.
When he arrived at boarding school (in 1818) he found it extremely boring. It was not the first time he did not enjoy studying the two subjects Latin and Ancient Greek. For him, without the best marks possible, university would have been out of the picture so he decided to leave school at 16. His father (Robert Darwin) wished for him to follow in the same footsteps as himself- that was to become a doctor. Charles ended up spending the whole summer following his father around seeing what his job was like.
After the summer Charles went to Edinburgh university to train to be a doctor, however, he hated it. After two years Charles abandoned the idea of being a doctor and went and studied to be a clergyman at Cambridge university, which he loved. On Charles's return his main focus was collecting bugs which was one of his favourite hobbies. He sometimes paid people to hunt through gunk at the bottom of boats for Beatles.