Charles Darwin (1807–1882) is the author of the principal evolutionary theory of the nineteenth century, which founded the most important part of the evolutionary thought of the twentieth century.

The son of a physician, he abandoned his own medical studies in Edinburgh after 2 years and went to Cambridge to study theology. There, he was initiated into botany and geology. In 1831, he embarked on the Beagle for a 5-year trip around the world. As the only geologist on board, he had to study the formation of the atoll island; moreover, he did the broad work of a naturalist, studying also animals and plants. He came back to England as an acknowledged geologist. However, he and his family settled in Down, in the southwest of London, where he prepared, for 20 years, a theory about the origin of species. In 1858, when he received a letter from Wallace, a naturalist living in Malaysia, he decided to publish his book rapidly. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or...