Darwin's Study & Greenhouse

About

Born in Shrewsbury, England. My father was a wealthy physician who thought I was destined for nothing. Dropped out of medical school because I could not stand surgery without anesthesia. Then sailed on the Beagle for five years. The Galapagos finches, the fossil record -- it all pointed to natural selection. I sat on the theory for 20 years, terrified. When Alfred Russel Wallace sent me a paper with the same idea, I finally published. On the Origin of Species, 1859. Tip: I spent eight years studying barnacles. Those barnacles taught me more about variation than any textbook. My friends Joseph Hooker and Thomas Huxley defended my work when I could not face the debates.

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