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Born on February 12, 1809 in Shropshire, England

Died on April 19, 1882 Son of a wealthy society doctor and

financier Darwin’s father originally wanted Darwin to

become a doctor, but Darwin found the subject to be very boring

Darwin’s interest in the natural world grew as he enjoyed riding and hunting

Darwin then began to study nature in Cambridge

After this course, Darwin was presented with the preposition of sailing with Captain Robert FitzRoy on the HMS Beagle

Darwin’s father strongly objected the trip, but was convinced by his brother-in-law

The trip was originally planned for two years, but lasted more than five years

Darwin acted as a naturalist and a geologist on the trip

The HMS Beagle first sailed to the Atlantic and then to South America

Darwin spent most of his time exploring the lands

The most famous stop of the Beagle was the Galapagos Islands

Book published by Darwin to explain his theory of evolution

Through his observations, Darwin had theorized about evolution; however, he did not know the true factors that determined evolution

Darwin made several points in his book:◦ Every species is fertile enough that if all offspring survived the

population would grow◦ Despite periodic fluctuations, populations roughly remain the

same size◦ Resources are limited and relatively stable over time◦ Struggle for survive keeps the population in check◦ Individuals of a population vary greatly from each other◦ Individuals less suited for the environment are less likely to

survive and less likely to reproduce, individuals that are more suited for the environment reproduce and pass traits to next generation: theory of natural selection

◦ Much of the variations are inherited◦ These variations accumulated over time and eventually produce

brand new species

Born on July 20, 1822 in Austrian Empire

Died on January 6, 1884 Was a Augustinian priest and scientist Mendel was the first to study the

science of genetics through inheritance of certain traits in pea plants

Mendel’s work explained how evolution worked

Mendel concluded:◦ Two factors for each trait◦ Factors may not contain the same

information◦ If the two factors are the same it is known

as homozygous, if different it is known as heterozyguos

◦ The genotype of an individuals is determined by the number of alleles and the phenotype is the individuals physical characteristics

Evolution is determined by heredity or the traits that an individual receives from parents

These traits determine the individual’s fitness or ability to survive: Survival of the Fittest

In order from new traits to appear, whether beneficial or harmful, in a organism it can happen through mutations or gene shuffling