Galapagos

Charles Darwin

He is known as the biggest scientific influence on the Galapagos and here is his story. He was born February 12, 1809 in his family home, The Mount. It was in Shrewsbury, England. He went to college and learned about many things, before he went on a voyage around the world. It was on the HMS Beagle, and he got on by convincing Captain Robert Fitzroy to bring him as the ship’s naturalist. The voyage was September 15, 1835, and for charting. It was 5 years long and his first discovery was that he got quite seasick on boats. The crew collected specimens and updated their charts. Charles started getting a sense of evolution but he did not realise what he was onto. He was beginning to see variation with the giant tortoises and the mockingbirds. A governor helped him develop his idea. In 1859 he published his book, On The Origin Of Species, which explained all of his ideas. He had been writing his observations down, and explained species diversity which he named special creation. A quote by him is “Considering the small size of these islands, we feel more astonished at the number of aboriginal beings, and at their confined range… Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhere near that great fact, that mysteries of mysteries, --the appearance of new beings on earth.” He saw how the animals adapted perfectly, and came up with the theory of natural selection through that. One of the ways he proved his theory, Darwin’s Finches, he got named after himself (which is obvious if you are paying attention at all to names). A brief summary of the finches is that the evolved from one finch into thirteen to match the available (and availability of) food, as well as some other things. He probably learned this by studying their beak size and shape. The same things would happen if more finches got to the Galapagos. His final place of rest was the Down House, where he died, April 19, 1882. He final words were to his wife and family. “I am not the least afraid of death - Remember what a good wife you have been to me - Tell all my children to remember how good they have been to me”. Without his help science would not be where it was, and he is one of the most important parts of the Galapagos.