Naming Charles Darwin is, even today, the equivalent of debate and controversy . The theories developed by the British naturalist brought about a revolution in the narrowly open-minded Victorian England and in the society of the nineteenth century as a whole , to the point that the very conception of the world and of the human being changed. Admired by many and repudiated by others (less and less, luckily), Charles Darwin and his studies continue to be the order of the day in the scientific world even when they were carried out two centuries ago.
Born on February 12, 1809 in the quiet English town of Shrewsbury to a wealthy family, Charles Robert Darwin demonstrated an early passion for the naturalist movement that was spreading across the British Isles at the time. The son of a respected doctor and the heir to an industrial empire, the young Darwin tried to dedicate his life to medicine and the clerical world without much success, since his interests ended up drifting towards the world of biology, botany and entomology. . His life, and with it history, would change when he embarked on the HMS Beagle in 1831 with the aim of going around the world.
During his travels, Darwin dedicated himself to observing the animal and plant species found in the different places he visited and began to write a study in which he questioned the principles of the theory of the stability of species . Between approximately 1837 and 1839, the young Charles Darwin developed a new theory in which it was stated that species evolved according to the conditions in which they inhabited and that, with natural selection involved , only the fittest survived . From this new conception, the fact that all animals descended from common ancestors stands out and humans were also included in that bag .
‘ The origin of species ‘ ( 1859 ) gave nature characteristics that until then had only been considered typical of a deity and sparked a campaign of demonization against Darwin (see the mythical ‘ Anís del mono ‘) by wide sectors conservatives and religious of the society of the moment. The debate divided the world between evolutionists and creationists and was an attempt to discredit Darwin and expel him from scientific life, although without much success. Darwin would be buried with all honors in Westminster Abbey and his theories continue to have enormous validity today, having recovered the prestige and recognition that his studies deserve .
