Charles Darwin

1809 – 1882

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist whose 1859 book On the Origin of Species established that all species of life have descended through evolutionary processes from common ancestors, with natural selection as the principal mechanism. The five-year voyage of HMS Beagle from 1831 to 1836 supplied the observations—particularly from the Galápagos Islands—that grounded his theory, which he refined for two more decades before publication. His later works including The Descent of Man extended the framework to human evolution and remain foundational to modern biology.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM