---
node: charles_darwin
type: person
slug: charles_darwin
title: "Charles Darwin"
lead: "Charles Darwin (1809–1882) was an English naturalist who proposed that species evolve by natural selection. His On the Origin of Species (1859) is one of the most influential books in the history of science."
published: 2026-07-11
updated: 2026-07-11
---

## Who they were

After a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle, during which he observed the wildlife of South America and the Galápagos, Darwin spent decades gathering evidence before publishing On the Origin of Species in 1859. It argued that all species descend with modification from common ancestors, shaped by natural selection; The Descent of Man (1871) applied the idea to humans.

## What they did

He gave biology a unifying mechanism, replacing separate creation with common descent and explaining the diversity of life.

## Legacy

Evolution by natural selection is now the foundation of the life sciences, confirmed by genetics and molecular biology. Darwin's theory reshaped science and, controversially in his time, humanity's view of its own origins.