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BIOGRAPHIES OF GREAT SCIENTISTS
Darwin Charles Robert. Biography of a scientist
Directory / Biographies of great scientists
Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 in Shrewsbury, where his father practiced medicine. He was the younger of two sons in the family, and he had three more sisters. His mother died when Charles was eight years old, he had no memory of her. Young Charles was incapable of schooling and did not feel any desire for him. In the ninth year he was sent to an elementary school. Here he remained a year and lagged far behind his sister Katerina in success; the next year Darwin moved to Dr. Butler's Grammar School where he studied for seven years. However, already at the age of eight, Charles showed a love and interest in nature. He collected plants, minerals, shells, insects, even seals, autographs, coins, and the like, early on he became addicted to fishing and spent whole hours with a fishing rod, but he especially fell in love with hunting. In 1825, convinced that Charles's schoolwork would not be of much use, his father took him from the gymnasium and sent him to the University of Edinburgh to prepare for a medical career. The lectures seemed unbearably boring to him. For two years Darwin remained in Edinburgh. Finally, making sure that the son had no inclination towards medicine, the father suggested that he choose a spiritual career. Darwin thought and thought and agreed: in 1828 he entered the theological faculty of Cambridge University, intending to take the priesthood. His studies here also retained their former character: very mediocre success in school subjects and diligent collection of collections - insects, birds, minerals, as well as hunting, fishing, excursions, observing the life of animals. In 1831, Darwin left the university among the "many" - the so-called students who completed the course satisfactorily, but without special distinctions. Botany professor John Henslow helped Darwin make the final choice. He noticed Darwin's abilities and offered him a place as a naturalist on an expedition to South America. Before sailing, Darwin read the works of the geologist Charles Lyell. He took a newly published book with him on his journey. It was one of the few books of known importance in his development. Lyell, the greatest thinker of the time, was close in spirit to Darwin. The expedition sailed in 1831 on the ship "Beagle" and lasted five years. During this time, the researchers visited Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and the Galapagos Islands - ten rocky islands off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean, each of which has its own fauna. Darwin, on a subconscious level, singled out those facts and phenomena that were in the closest connection with the greatest problems of natural science. The question of the origin of the organic world had not yet arisen before him in a clear form, but meanwhile he was already drawing attention to those phenomena in which the key to the solution of this question lay. So, from the very beginning of the journey, he became interested in the question of how plants and animals migrated. The fauna of the oceanic islands, the settlement of new lands, occupied him throughout the entire journey, and the Galapagos Islands, which he studied with particular care in this respect, became a classic land in the eyes of naturalists. Of great interest in his observations were transitional forms, which were precisely the object of annoyance and neglect on the part of taxonomists looking for "good", that is, well-defined species. Darwin remarks of one of these families of a transitional type: "It belongs to those which, in contact with other families, at the present time only hinder natural taxonomists, but in the end may contribute to the knowledge of the great plan according to which organized beings were created. ". In the pampas of South America, he came across another category of facts that formed the basis of evolutionary theory - the geological succession of species. He managed to find many fossils, and the relationship of this extinct fauna with the modern inhabitants of America (for example, giant megatheriums with sloths, fossil armadillos with living ones) immediately caught his eye. On this expedition, Darwin collected a huge collection of rocks and fossils, compiled herbariums and a collection of stuffed animals. He kept a detailed diary of the expedition and subsequently made use of many of the materials and observations made on the expedition. On October 2, 1836, Darwin returned from his travels. At this time he was 27 years old. The question of a career was decided by itself, without much thought. It’s not that Darwin believed in his ability to “advance science,” but there was nothing to talk about it either: huge materials, rich collections turned out to be on hand, he already had plans for future research, it remained, without further ado, to get to work. Darwin did just that. He devoted the next twenty years to processing the collected materials. The travel diary he published was a great success. Artless simplicity of presentation is its main advantage. Darwin cannot be called a brilliant stylist, but the love of nature, subtle observation, diversity and breadth of the author's interests make up for the lack of beauty of presentation. For several months he lived in Cambridge, and in 1837 he moved to London, where he spent five years, revolving mainly in the circle of scientists. Accustomed to living among free nature, he was weary of city life. Of the scientists, he was especially close friends with Lyell and with Hooker. Their friendship continued until Darwin's death. Hooker helped him a lot with his vast knowledge, finding, in turn, a source of further research in his ideas. In general, these years were the most active period in Darwin's life. He often visited society, worked a lot, read, made reports in learned societies, and for three years was the honorary secretary of the Geological Society. In 1839 he married his cousin, Miss Emma Wedgwood. Meanwhile, his health was getting weaker and weaker. In 1841 he wrote to Lyell: "I was bitterly convinced that the world belongs to the strong and that I would not be able to do anything more than follow the progress of others in the field of science." Fortunately, these sad forebodings did not come true, but the rest of his life was spent in a continuous struggle with the disease. The noisy city life became unbearable for him, and in 1842 he moved to the estate Dawn, located near London, which he bought for this purpose. Settling in Downa, Darwin spent forty years of a calm, monotonous and active life. He got up very early, went for a short walk, then had breakfast at about eight o'clock and sat down to work until nine-thirty-thirty. It was his best working time. At half-past nine he began to read letters, of which he received a great deal, and from half-past ten to twelve, or half-past twelve, he again studied. After that, he considered his working day over and, if the classes were successful, he said with pleasure: "Today I did a good job." Then he went for a walk in any weather, accompanied by his beloved dog, Polly the Pinscher. He loved dogs very much, they answered him the same. Hermit life in Downe diversified from time to time with trips to relatives, to London, to the seashore. In family life, he was quite happy. “In his relationship with my mother,” said the son of the scientist Francis Darwin, “his sympathetic, sensitive nature was most striking. In her presence, he felt happy; thanks to her, his life, which would otherwise have been overshadowed by difficult impressions, had a calm and clear contentment. The book "On the Expression of Feelings" shows how carefully he observed his children. He was interested in the smallest details of their life and hobbies, played with them, told and read, taught them to collect and identify insects, but at the same time he gave them complete freedom and treated them in a comradely manner. In business matters, Darwin was meticulous to the point of scrupulousness. He kept his accounts very carefully, classified them and at the end of the year summed up the results like a merchant. His father left him a fortune that was enough for an independent and modest life. His own books gave him a considerable income, which Darwin was proud of, not out of love for money, but because of the consciousness that he, too, could earn his bread. Darwin often provided financial assistance to needy scientists, and in the last years of his life, when his income increased, he decided to allocate part of his money to promote the development of science. The patience and perseverance with which Darwin carried out his work is amazing. The "pangenesis" hypothesis is the result of twenty-five years of reflection on the question of the causes of heredity. He wrote the book "On the Expression of Sensations" for 33 years: in December 1839 he began to collect materials, and in 1872 the book was published. One of the experiments on earthworms lasted 29 years. For twenty-one years, from 1837 to 1858, he worked out the question of the origin of species before he decided to publish a book. The book was a huge success and made a lot of noise, as it contradicted traditional ideas about the origin of life on Earth. One of the boldest thoughts was the assertion that evolution continued for many millions of years. This was contrary to the Bible's teaching that the world was created in six days and has not changed since. Today, most scientists use a modernized version of Darwin's theory to explain changes in living organisms. Some reject his theory on religious grounds. Darwin discovered that organisms fight each other for food and habitat. He noticed that even within the same species there are individuals with special features that increase their chances of survival. The offspring of such individuals inherit these traits, and they gradually become common. Individuals that do not have these traits die out. So, after many generations, the whole species acquires useful features. This process is called natural selection. He managed to solve the greatest problem of biology: the question of the origin and development of the organic world. We can say that the entire history of the biological sciences is divided into two periods: before Darwin - an unconscious desire to establish an evolutionary principle, and after Darwin - a conscious development of this principle, established in the Origin of Species. One reason for the theory's success is to be found in the merits of Darwin's book itself. It is not enough to express an idea, it is also necessary to connect it with facts, and this part of the task is perhaps the most difficult. If Darwin had expressed his thought in a general form, like Wallace, it certainly would not have produced even a hundredth part of its effect. But he traced it to the most remote consequences, connected it with the data of various branches of science, backed it up with an indestructible battery of facts. He not only discovered the law, but also showed how this law manifests itself in various spheres of phenomena. Almost all of Darwin's studies that appeared after The Origin of Species represent the development of certain particular principles of his theory. The only exceptions are a book on earthworms and a few small notes. All the rest are devoted to solving various problems of biology - for the most part the most intricate and complex from the point of view of natural selection. In 1862, he published Pollination of Orchids, proving that plants adapt to their environment in no less amazing way than animals. For a while, he gives his scientific predilections to plant life, each of his subsequent books impresses fellow botanists. The works "Insectivorous Plants" and "Climbing Plants" appeared simultaneously in 1875. Darwin also made his contribution to the future science of genetics by starting experiments on crossing species. He proved that plants that are obtained as a result of crossing are more viable and fruitful than with simple self-pollination. Almost every new work of Darwin became a sensation in the scientific world. True, not all of them were accepted by his contemporaries, as happened, for example, with the study "Formation of plant soil through the activity of worms" (1881). In it, Darwin explained the benefits of worms, which mix the soil naturally. Today, when people think a lot about the contamination of the earth with chemical fertilizers, this problem has again become relevant. But his interests were not limited to theoretical studies. In one of his works, he gave practical advice on breeding thoroughbred English hogs. As his theory spread and results were found in innumerable works, in the rapid transformation of all branches of knowledge, patented scientists, academic luminaries came to terms with the merits of the great naturalist. In 1864, he received the highest award that a scientist at the academy can receive: the Kopleev gold medal. In 1867, Darwin was awarded the Prussian Order "Pour Ie merite", established by Friedrich Wilhelm IV to reward scholarly and literary merit. Bonn, Breslavl, Leiden universities elected him an honorary doctor; Petersburg (1867), Berlin (1878), Paris (1878) academies - corresponding member. Darwin treated all these and other official awards with great indifference. He lost his diplomas and had to inquire with his friends whether he was a member of such and such an academy or not. The mind of the scientist did not weaken, did not darken over the years, and only death interrupted his mighty work. Darwin died on April 19, 1882. Author: Samin D.K.
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