Explanation

Young Charles loved to collect beetles, but what he liked the most was hunting. At every chance he got, Darwin would hang his rifle to his saddle and ride his horse into the countryside together with his dogs. Shooting birds was like a “holy cause” to him. He was so into hunting at one point that his father, Robert, finally lost his patience. He could not tolerate the idea that his own son was merely wasting his best years chasing woodcocks and partridges, without even hinting at wanting to do anything serious with his life…

Explanation

Humans don’t actually descend from apes, but instead the two share a common unknown ancestor. Thus, although some were (and still are) not happy about the idea, man is to be considered an ape in itself.

Explanation

When Charles finally decided to marry, at 29 years old, he opted to wed someone he trusted and knew very well: his first cousin Emma Wedgwood, who was 30 at the time.

Explanation

This book, written by the English cleric and scholar Thomas Malthus, was the key that allowed Darwin to formulate his theory. Malthus claimed that while food production could grow at a steady rate, human population seemed to grow much faster; this fact, if not controlled by proper population planning, would eventually lead to a scarcity of resources fit for said population to survive. In explaining his theory, Malthus also took into consideration both plants and animals.

Explanation

Charles had noticed a few odd patterns in the similarities and differences between the many tortoises and mockingbirds living on the islands. He observed that each island, although close to others, was inhabited by species of animals that were both unique to the place and somewhat similar to the species on the other islands. This very first realization eventually led him to the development of his theories on change and evolution.

Explanation

Charles was finally persuaded to publish his theory only because a younger naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had himself theorized the same idea and published it in a short article.

Explanation

Just like his father before him, Robert Darwin was a medical doctor. As he proved to be able to identify symptoms that many other physicians would usually dismiss or not even notice, Robert quickly rose to a certain fame thanks to his diagnostic skills. This was truly a remarkable talent at the time, since doctors mainly had to rely on their own inductive reasoning and experience to deliver a diagnosis. Needless to say, nobody could still take a peek into anyone’s torso, their head, or under their skin!

Explanation

At Darwin’s time, the British Royal Navy comprehended many vessels rigged with the most recent scientific equipment; one of these ships was the Beagle, a ten-gun brig. As he was about to embark on a five-year cartographic expedition around South America, the captain of the ship R. FitzRoy asked for a naturalist to join the voyage and record the many species of both plants and animals they would eventually encounter. Cambridge University recommended a young and promising Charles Darwin, who finally set sail with the crew in 1831. The HMS Beagle was first employed as a small coasting trade boat and, as such, was mostly used to sail from harbour to harbour on a short-distance basis. In order to turn her into a full-fledged brig, the vessel was rigged with three masts and ten small cannons not many years before Darwin’s voyage.