PAALISBO, Celene Ciaree Jesu B. 

10-Diligence Science 10

 Charles Robert Darwin was a naturalist, geologist, and biologist from England who is best recognized for his contributions to evolutionary biology. Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1809. His father, a doctor, had high hopes for his son's accomplishment at Edinburgh University in Scotland, where he entered at the age of sixteen. Darwin was more interested in natural history than medicine, according to legend, and the sight of blood made him ill to his stomach. As he completed his theological studies in Cambridge, it was his interest in natural history that became his passion.

 A journey to the Galapagos Islands in 1835 influenced Darwin in formulating his theories on natural selection. He discovered multiple bird species that have adapted to various environmental niches. Experimenting with artificial selection in pigeons enabled him to investigate how far a species could evolve. He acquired crucial evidence for evolution by natural selection by artificially selecting attributes - crossing birds with specific qualities to produce diverse offspring.

 During his trip on the Beagle, Darwin made numerous observations that contributed to the development of his Theory of Evolution. By presenting a rationale for significant competition between individuals of the same species, Thomas Malthus' work inspired Darwin to refine natural selection. Things, he realized, change dramatically over time. Malthus' work made Darwin understand the relevance of overcrowding and the need for variation among populations. Darwin also incorporated Malthus' concepts about competition and survival in numbers to develop his comprehensive concept of natural selection.  

Thomas Robert Malthus

The church agreed totally with Aristotle's findings, but it disagreed with Darwin's beliefs on change. Darwin questioned the belief that everything in the world was flawless because it was created by a perfect Creator. His discoveries that the species evolved through time and reacted efficiently to environmental changes questioned the Church's doctrines. 

When Darwin's work was first made public in 1859, it horrified the religious establishment in the United Kingdom. Even though it is now acknowledged by almost all scientists, many Americans still reject it, sometimes because it contradicts their religious views about divine creation. The theory of evolution and natural selection not only affected our perceptions of biology and other animals, but also of ourselves and our role in the cosmos. The struggle for survival offers a bleak picture, one that unfortunately includes humans. Since its fusion with genetics, this theory has played a critical role in the direction of scientific research.