People of Importance
to Charles Darwin (in order of ‘appearance’ in presentation) + important ‘things
& events’
|
Name |
Born – died |
Relationship to Darwin / Notes |
|
Darwin, Erasmus |
1731-1802 |
Grandfather. Polymath: Enlightenment thinker; Zoonomia |
|
Wedgwood, Josiah |
1730-1795 |
Maternal Grandfather; Noted potter, friend of Erasmus |
|
Wedgwood, Josiah II |
1769-1843 |
(favorite) Uncle “Jos”; Father of Emma, Charles’ cousin & wife |
|
Darwin, Robert Waring |
1766-1848 |
Father. Physician; Businessman |
|
Darwin, Susannah Wedgwood |
1765-1817 |
Mother. Died when Charles 8 years old; six children |
|
Darwin, Caroline |
1800-1888 |
Sister. Educated Charles when mother became ill |
|
Darwin, Erasmus (“Ras”) |
1804-1881 |
Brother & close friend; bachelor |
|
The Mount, Shrewsbury |
1799 |
Land and home Robert Darwin built; Charles – love of nature |
|
Dr. Butler: Shrewsbury School |
1818-1825 |
Strictly Classical education; chemistry experiments w/Ras |
|
Edinburg University |
1825-1827 |
Begin medical studies |
|
Lamark, Jean-Babtiste |
1744-1829 |
French naturalist, popular evolutionary ideas of the time |
|
Edmonstone, John |
Unknown |
Freed slave; Taught Charles taxidermy at Edinburg |
|
Plinian Society |
Found 1823 |
Student natural history society, U. of Edinburgh |
|
Dr. Grant, Robert |
|
Lecturer at Edinburgh, alum of Plinian; Charles: his assistant |
|
Maer Hall |
|
Uncle Jos’s residence; Charles spent much time in summers |
|
Christ’s College: Cambridge U. |
1828-1831 |
Intention: schooling to become clergyman |
|
Fox, William Darwin |
1805-1880 |
Second Cousin/roommate; introduced Charles to entomology |
|
Rev. Henslow, John |
1796-1861 |
Well-connected professor of Botany; became close friends |
|
Sedgwick, Adam |
1785-1873 |
Chair Geology Dept.; After finals, Charles learned from him |
|
Paley, William |
1743-1805 |
Theologian: Natural Theology; Argument by Design |
|
De Humboldt, Alexander |
1769-1859 |
German scientist / explorer:
Persona narrative of travels . . . |
|
Herschel, Sir John Frederick |
1792-1871 |
Polymath; Preliminary Discourse:
re- scientific investigation |
|
FitzRoy, Robert |
1805-1865 |
Captain, HMS Beagle |
|
HMS Beagle voyage |
1831-1836 |
Charles Served as naturalist & cabin-mate to Captain |
|
Lyell, Sir Charles |
1797-1875 |
Geologist; Principles of Geology; one of best friends |
|
Cuvier, Georges |
1769-1832 |
Expert: Animal anatomy & paleontology; catastrophism |
|
Galápagos Islands |
1835 |
Most important part of Beagle voyage for Darwin |
|
Royal Society |
1839 |
Charles become Fellow of the Royal Society, age 30 |
|
Malthus, Thomas |
1766-1834 |
Scholar-economy: An Essay on the Principle of Population |
|
Darwin, Emma Wedgwood |
1808-1896 |
Wife; married 1839; ten children! |
|
Down, Kent countryside |
1842-1882 |
Darwin and Emma’s home |
|
Bacon, Francis |
1613-1617 |
Philosopher: father of empiricism; Baconian method-science |
|
Huxley, Thomas |
1825-1895 |
Biologist; Charles Darwin’s “Bulldog” |
|
Gray, Asa |
1810-1888 |
Most important American Botanist of 19th century: friend |
|
Hooker, Sir Joseph Dalton |
1817-1911 |
Founder- Geographical Botany; Charles’ closest friend |
|
Wallace, Alfred Russel |
1823-1913 |
British naturalist: derived virtually same theory as Darwin |
|
Spencer, Herbert |
1820-1903 |
Philosopher, Biologist: bold evolutionary speculation |
|
Von Helmholz, Hermann |
1821-1894 |
Law of
conservation of energy: it is a ‘mechanical
universe’ |
|
Chambers, Robert |
1844 |
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation |
|
Von Schelling, Friedrich |
1775-1854 |
Philosopher- German Idealism; Naturphilosophie |
|
Russell, Bertrand |
1872-1970 |
Philosopher-activist:
laissez faire economics=Darwinism |
|
Owen, Richard |
1804-1892 |
Biologist, anatomist, paleontologist: anti-Darwin evolution |
|
Wilberforce, Bishop Samuel |
1805-1873 |
Skilled orator;
Bishop of Oxford: anti-evolution |
|
Debate at Oxford |
June 30, 1860 |
Wiberforce & Owen vs Huxley and Hooker: Origin of Species |
|
Sprengel, Christian Konrad |
1750-1816 |
Book inspired Charles to study relationship
of bees to flowers |
|
Darwin, Henrietta |
1843-1930 |
Daughter; proof-read and edited Charles’ later books |
|
Darwin, Francis |
1848-1925 |
Son; assisted Charles in later years; published his letters |
|
Charles receives LLD |
1877 |
Awarded by Cambridge – memorable ceremony |
|
Death |
April 19, 1982 |
Burial at Westminster Abbey (with Newton,
Herschel, et al.) |
|
Haeckel, Ernst Heinrich |
1834-1919 |
German zoologist; author-artist; supported teaching evolution |
|
Mendel, Gregor Hohann |
1865 |
Proposed inheritance laws based on pea plant experiments |
|
Morgan, Thomas Hunt |
1915 |
Geneticist; Embryologist: Chromosome theory of inheritance |
|
Watson, James & Crick, Francis |
1953 |
“Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for DNA” |
|
Wegener, Alfred |
1915 |
Geophysicist; meteorologist: theory of continental drift |
|
Wilson, John Tuzo |
1908-1993 |
Geophysicist; geologist; contributions, plate tectonics theory |