Darwin Reader - Humanistic Reading

Author: Ye Duzhuang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882), a British biologist and the founder of the theory of evolution. Born on February 12, 1809, in a British medical family. From 1825 to 1828, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University and then entered Cambridge University to study theology. After graduating from Cambridge University in 1831, he embarked on a five-year (1831-1836) global voyage aboard the naval exploration ship HMS Beagle as a naturalist, observing and collecting a vast amount of materials on animals, plants, and geology. Through summarization, organization, and comprehensive analysis, he formed the concept of biological evolution. In 1859, he published the book On the Origin of Species, comprehensively proposing the theory of evolution based on natural selection. The publication of this book shook the academic circles of the time and became a turning point in the history of biology. The theory of evolution based on natural selection fundamentally challenged various forms of supernatural creationism, teleology, and the theory of species immutability, causing a fundamental change in the concepts and ideas already established in various fields of biology at the time. Subsequently, Darwin published works such as The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868), The Descent of Man (1871), and The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man (1872), providing a systematic account of artificial selection, proposing theories of sexual selection and human origin, and further enriching the content of the evolutionary theory. Darwin wrote extensively throughout his life, and the Complete Works of Darwin on Evolution consists of 13 volumes, 15 books, and approximately 5 million words. This book is a selection of the main parts of the key works from the Complete Works of Darwin on Evolution.