Charles Darwin, in his book
Origin of Species, said:
“...probably all the [living things] which have ever lived on this Earth have descended from some one [simple] form, into which life was first breathed.”
Charles Robert Darwin (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was the person who (in conjunction with Alfred Wallace) came to believe that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors. This branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, often called 'the survival of the fittest'
Darwin published his theory of evolution in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species. At this time it was still believed that evolution had not occurred and that all species were left over from the ark of Noah in the Great Flood.
Darwin had always been interested in nature. He studied at the University of Cambridge and then had the most amazing good fortune to make a five-year scientific voyage of discovery on HMS Beagle. It was on this trip that he spent time on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean and saw the variation in finches and how each different type of finch was adapted to feed from a slightly different environment.
He also collected a wide variety of fossils on this voyage. The two things together were the foundation for his theory of natural selection. He was writing up his theory in 1858 when Alfred Russel Wallace sent him an essay which described the same idea, prompting immediate joint publication of both of their theories.
Darwin became internationally famous, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. It has been said that Darwin was one of the most important people in human history.
