What Are Charles Darwin's Accomplishments

Charles Darwin was a very different geologist compared to the geologist who had come before him. Charles Darwin was and is one of the most influential and well known scientists to date. Charles Darwin created the theory of natural selection, wrote the origin of species, and put forth the concept of sexual selection just to name a few accomplishments. Not only has Charles Darwin’s’ work influenced the field of science but also sociology, psychology, realism, and literature. But when most people of Charles Darwin they only think of his accomplishments but not his overall life. Life when Darwin was just a young man trying to find his way in the world before he became one of the most well known and influential scientist in the world.

Charles Darwin

Darwin was uninterested in all of his lectures but did join the Royal Medical Society. One day in one of Charles Darwin’s anatomy seasons he saw a young child being operated on and fainted when he saw the sight of her blood. At that point Darwin’s father knew that he would not become a doctor and after his second year at Edinburg, he had encouraged him to seek another occupation. Charles Darwin was encouraged by his father to became an ordained minister at Cambridge University and in 1828 Charles did just that. Charles Darwin decided to go to Cambridge to become an ordained minister in 1828 but soon changed his mind. Darwin found himself leading group expeditions about wildlife, particularly beetles. The news about Darwin’s great insight on wildlife spread and was soon introduced to John Henslow. Darwin took Henslow’s courses, attended night soirees at Henslow’s house, and even began a study of pollen under Henslow’s direction. Darwin was very happy at Cambridge until one day he found an invitation to serve as the resident naturalist on board the HMS Beagle for a two-year journey to South

“When HMS Beagle returned to England in October 1836, Darwin had sailed 40,000 miles around the world, explored over 2,000 miles inland and collected more than 5,000 specimens” (THE VOYAGES). When Darwin returned from the HSM Beagle he rapidly gained memberships in the Geological association and Zoological association. He also published his notes for publication because “Darwin was a meticulous writer who kept detailed diaries and excellent records of his extensive correspondence” (396, Peretó). Not only did Charles Darwin gain memberships and publications but also a wife. Darwin decided to marry his first cousin Emily Wedgwood in January 1839 and soon after became a father to a son named William in December that same year. In 1837, Darwin started keeping notes on evolution and in 1842, he made a first sketch of a theory that included the core idea of his theory of evolution: that species descended from each other with modification due to natural selection. In 1844 he expanded the sketch into a one hundred eighty-nine-page manuscript, but he was still not ready to publish. He felt unsure of his speculations and afraid of the repercussions in the scientific community. Finally, in 1858 Darwin introduced his revolutionary theory of evolution at a meeting of the Linnean Society one year before he published the Origin of Species. The Origin of Species become Darwin’s most famous work on the subject of