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Life of Charles Darwin

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science

  • 22 Accesses

Synonyms

Biography of Charles Darwin

Definition

The life of Charles Darwin is examined including his education, main writings, and influences.

Introduction

Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who made significant contributions to the fields of geology and biology. His most famous contribution was a theory to explain the mechanism of evolutionary change which he called natural selection. While there were debates during his lifetime about whether or not natural selection is the main mechanism of adaptive change, today his theory is well accepted by mainstream biologists.

Early Years and Education

Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 in Mount House on the outskirts of the English town of Shrewsbury. His parents, physician Robert Darwin and pottery heiress Susannah Wedgwood, were a wealthy property-owning couple who had five other children.

Charles, who was known to his family as “Bobby,” failed to distinguish himself at Shrewsbury School and maintained this trend when,...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Wales, Pontypridd, UK

    Lance Workman & Sandra (Sandie) Taylor

Authors
  1. Lance Workman
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  2. Sandra (Sandie) Taylor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lance Workman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

  2. Rochester, MI, USA

    Viviana A. Weekes-Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. School of Psychology, Department of Basic Psychology, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Farid Pazhoohi

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Workman, L., Taylor, S.(. (2019). Life of Charles Darwin. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1286-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_1286-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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