Little Darwin was lively since he was a child. He likes collecting minerals, shells, coins and stamps, and is very interested in nature, trying to find out the names of various plants; He likes to walk alone for a long time and concentrate on thinking; He likes fishing and often sits by the river for hours with a fishing rod. He is also curious about his brother's chemical experiments and is fascinated by doing them. These are all his father's headaches, but what makes him most headache and even angry is Darwin's dislike of primary education. In the case of fruitless scolding, Dr. Darwin was suddenly surprised to find that little Darwin was very interested in practicing medicine and was very talented. "Maybe my son can follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather and become an excellent doctor in the future!" With this in mind, my father sent Darwin to Edinburgh Medical College to study medicine.
Darwin entered medical school with great expectation. But he soon found that college courses were too boring, and he couldn't stand the patient's painful expression. Therefore, Darwin began to make friends with naturalists and students who loved nature, and joined the Pliny Student Natural History Society. For his major-medicine, Darwin not only often skipped classes, but even did not take exams and internships. Old Darwin was very annoyed at his son's unprofessional behavior. He sent his son to Cambridge University to study theology, hoping that he would become an "outstanding priest" in the future.
During his study of theology, two books had a great influence on Darwin. One was A Preliminary Study of Natural Philosophy by astronomer John hessel, which aroused Darwin's desire to "make a modest contribution to the construction of natural science with his own weak strength". Another book is Yahya Humboldt's A Journey to America, which makes Darwin realize that traveling can let him see more wonderful creatures.
By chance, in order to find more resources and expand the market, the British government decided to send the "Beagle" to all parts of the world for a global inspection. This ship needs a naturalist, who was recommended by Darwin's teacher Hanslow. Darwin was certainly very willing to take part in the trip. After mobilizing relatives and friends to convince his father, his wonderful journey began.
During his voyage, Darwin made a natural exploration with great interest. In addition to geology, he is also interested in tropical plants, namely palm trees, very dense poppy trees, banana trees, sugar cane, coffee trees and a large number of flowers; All kinds of birds and insects; Brightly colored marine animals, such as sponges and corals; There are other animals, such as sea rabbits and octopus. He often observes the habits of these animals along the coast and collects them carefully. Darwin gradually discovered that species that can be seen in many places may have different characteristics in different places. Why is there such a difference? Darwin began to think seriously.
Darwin was most concerned about collecting terrestrial invertebrates and freshwater invertebrates. He collected a lot of exquisite collections of terrestrial flatsoft gastropods, and did a lot of research on insects to observe their habits. Many large tropical butterflies have aroused his interest, and some of them have their own characteristics: these butterflies can run on land with their wings in an open plane, making a loud noise and crackling sound. Knowing beetles very well, Darwin easily found that beetles near Rio de Janeiro and American beetles were not of the same family. He also found many ORTHOPTERA, Hemiptera and HYMENOPTERA insects. He observed how wasps prey on spiders: wasps bite spiders and then feed them to their larvae. He collected all kinds of spiders and observed their habits.
In maldonado, Darwin found that the animals here are different from those in his hometown. Many animals in my hometown have always been afraid of hunters on foot, but they don't pay attention to people riding horses or approaching by car; Deer in maldonado don't go near riders, but they are not alert to pedestrians. Why are the deer here afraid of pedestrians and riders? Darwin observed for a long time, and finally found that local residents used to ride horses and walk back and forth, and these residents were also frequent hunters. This inspired Darwin: animals will respond to different habits of human beings, and so will nature? Is this self-protection behavior of animals the reason why they are different from their counterparts in other places? Darwin felt that he was approaching the truth of the laws of nature.
According to the constant observation during the investigation, Darwin began to think about the deep connection between various creatures in nature. 1832, Darwin visited Brazil and climbed the Andes in South America. On a mountain more than 4000 meters above sea level, Darwin accidentally found shell fossils at the top of the mountain. Darwin was surprised to think, how did the shells at the bottom of the sea get to the mountains? He guessed that the ground environment here changed a lot, and the species could not remain the same. They will change with the change of external environment and objective conditions.
In this way, after years of traveling and living on the Beagle, Darwin has grown into an excellent biologist and traveler, and the issue of the origin of species has been more and more widely spread in front of him. He discovered the geographical distribution of many odontosaurus fossils and adjacent species, and observed the extinction, adaptation and struggle between animals and plants, which provided a basis for refuting the correctness of the previous view of species. Darwin realized more and more clearly that species are changing gradually and the formation of species is a long-term natural selection process.
Darwin drifted between the sea and the sky, trudging through the dense forests and mountains, and I don't know how many difficulties and obstacles he experienced. 1836, 10 in June, he finally returned to England with the ship, and the whole voyage lasted for 5 years. Just before he came back, the specimen boxes were sent to London continuously, which were postmarked by American and Australian cities. When he left five years ago, Darwin wanted to collect some specimens with infinite belief in God and curiosity about nature. After returning to China five years later, he has forgotten God and started to think about the internal relationship between this series of landscapes and specimens. After returning home, Darwin sorted out these materials, went deep into practice and consulted a large number of books to find a basis for his own theory of biological evolution.
Darwin sorted out the information accumulated in his five-year life around the world and published five volumes of Investigation Diary, Fauna during the voyage of Beagle and three volumes of Geology during the voyage of Beagle. The publication of these works did not satisfy Darwin. Because these can't fully explain his personal views summarized in the investigation. Therefore, he intends to write a book that can fully express his thoughts. But he felt that his professional knowledge was not enough, so he contacted geologist Ryle and found botanist Hawke to discuss with them for a long time. He also spent 14 years doing scientific experiments, collecting research materials and writing his own papers. He has arranged a very strict schedule for himself, and he will never leave home during working hours. In order to find out the reasons and laws of species change, Darwin chose the scientific experimental methods of domestic animals and cultivated plants. He conscientiously summed up the practical experience of breeders, gardeners and domestic animals and plants in obtaining new varieties, and gradually formed a new theory of artificial selection. He realized that different species can evolve from the same ancestor. Then he put forward the theory of natural selection. He also accepted Malthus' population theory and explained biological evolution from the perspective of "survival competition".
In the process of writing the Origin of Species, British biologist Wallace reached the same conclusion as Darwin according to his experience of global scientific investigation when he was young, and wrote a paper and sent it to Darwin. Darwin was so shocked that he decided to publish his manuscript outline "The Origin of Species" at the same time as Wallace's paper.
1859165438+1October 24th, the origin of species was finally published, and its full name was the survival of the fittest and the struggle with natural selection as the means of survival. The first printed copy of 1 250 was sold out on the same day. Like a bolt from the blue, within a few days, the origin of species has become a hot topic when people meet in the street. In this book, Darwin clearly put forward the viewpoint of "evolution", indicating that species are constantly changing, from low to high, from simple to complex.
The publication of this book, for the first time, established biology on a complete scientific basis, and overturned the "creationism" and the theory of species invariance with a brand-new idea of biological evolution. The Origin of Species is a masterpiece of Darwin's theory of evolution, which marks the formal establishment of the theory of evolution.
The publication of the Origin of Species caused a sensation in Europe and even the whole world. It dealt a heavy blow to the foundation of theocracy, and people from reactionary churches to feudal literati were furious. They ganged up and slandered Darwin's theory as "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit", which violated the "divine right of monarchy" and lost human dignity. On the contrary, progressive scholars represented by Huxley actively promoted and defended Darwinism. It is pointed out that evolution has opened people's ideological imprisonment, inspired and educated people to be liberated from the shackles of religious superstition.
Botanist Watson called Darwin the greatest scientific revolutionary in the19th century. When commenting on the Origin of Species, he wrote to Darwin and said, "The answer you gave me about the chain break between orangutans and humans is exactly what I expected. This explanation made by natural phenomena really never occurred to me before. Almost all primitive human beings fought a direct and devastating war with their cousins (that is, people similar to human beings). This caused the interruption of the chain, and this interruption expanded day by day in the following days, even reaching such a large scale. This view, coupled with your chronology of animal life, will greatly shake the minds of many people! " .
After arousing strong repercussions from all walks of life, Darwin did not stop spreading his theory. Then, he began to write his second masterpiece, Variation of Animals and Plants at Home. With indisputable facts and rigorous scientific judgment, he further expounded his views on evolution, put forward important arguments on species variation and inheritance, biological survival competition and natural selection, and soon published this masterpiece. In his later years, although he was weak, Darwin stubbornly carried out scientific research and writing with amazing perseverance, and published many books such as The Origin of Man.
The publication of the Origin of Species officially opened the study of the origin of life, which is different from the previous pure conjecture. This book is one of the most solid cornerstones of modern science. The Origin of Species is Darwin's first masterpiece and the first heavyweight work in the field of the origin of life science. The publication of this book is not only of great significance to Darwin's personal life, but also the beginning of a large number of learned people's views on the biological world in the fifties and seventies of 19, which is no less significant than Copernicus' pointing out the position of the earth in the universe.
The book is divided into fifteen chapters, preceded by introduction and introduction. The contents of chapter 15 are as follows: first, the change of domestic state; Second, the change of natural state; Third, survival competition; Fourth, natural selection (that is, survival of the fittest); Fifth, the law of variation; Sixth, the difficulty of theory; Seventh, various objections to the theory of natural selection; Eighth, instinct; Ninth, mixed nature; Tenth, the geological record is incomplete; Eleventh, the succession of paleontology; Twelfth, the geographical distribution of organisms; Thirteenth, the continuation of biogeographic distribution; Fourteenth, the genetic relationship between organisms: morphology, embryology and degenerated organs; Fifteenth, summary and conclusion. The whole book is "a long argument", which is used to demonstrate the whole theory of evolution, especially the theory of natural selection, and gives the most perfect explanation of the reasons for evolution.
In the Origin of Species, Darwin listed a large number of facts, telling the world that variation and heredity also exist in nature, and the reason for replacing artificial selection in nature is "survival competition, or the inevitable survival competition when organisms proliferate according to geometric progression".
Before Darwin, people regarded the foundation of animal structure as those thoughts or plans embodied in animals, which belonged to the creator or the whole represented by the word "nature". On the other hand, Darwin believed that various forms of organic matter were the historical formation of a series of events. In the past, people only saw the formation of an organ, but Darwin explained why the organ was formed and why the most complex and reasonable adaptive organ was formed without any intervention from the creator.
According to detailed textual research, Darwin came to a conclusion in the Origin of Species: human beings originated from some lower organisms, the ancestors of human beings are the same as those of other mammals, and all human races also have the same origins. At the same time, the most credible hypothesis pedigree of human beings is established, and arguments are put forward to prove that human intelligence and animal intelligence are only different in degree, not in essence, and they are far superior to animal intelligence. To some extent, human spiritual feelings are developed from the kind of instinct and compassion that animals have.
Many people, especially religious people, think that the distinctive feature of people and animals is their belief in God, so they think that everyone seems to have religious beliefs. Darwin believed that in the past, many races did not have the concept of God, and even there were no words to express this concept in their language. Religion came into being in the later stage of human development, and he interpreted the belief in God widely circulated by other races as credulity. Because of this credulity, people list their behaviors according to their own experiences and compare them with those of animals and plants, inanimate objects and natural forces. Because the latter behaviors and phenomena cannot be explained, they are classified as intangible objects.
These views of Darwin angered all those who supported creationism. With creationism ruling the world for thousands of years, it is difficult for people to give up the idea that "man is in a completely special position in biology". There are people who oppose Darwin's theory everywhere, and even a sense of humiliation prevails in their feelings. They feel humiliated that people are not created by God, but come from apes or have the same ancestors as apes.
1860 In June, the British Science Association held a meeting in Oxford. Webster, Bishop of Oxford, delivered a speech full of cynicism about Darwin and won applause from the participants. Huxley, a staunch supporter of Darwin's theory, was present, so Weber asked Huxley a question at the end of his speech: "Does Professor Huxley think he evolved from apes through his grandfather or grandmother?" The question caused a burst of laughter. Huxley accepted the challenge. He calmly pointed out many major mistakes in natural history made by the bishop in his speech, and then refuted an ironic question raised by the bishop, as follows: "A man has no reason to be ashamed because his ancestors were apes. What makes me ashamed is such a man, impetuous and talkative. He is not satisfied with the dubious success in his own activities. And to intervene in scientific issues that he knows nothing about, the result can only be to confuse these issues with his own rhetoric, use some beautiful but far-fetched comments, and skillfully use religious prejudice to distract the audience from the real focus of the debate ... "
Later, Engels made an important supplement to the Origin of Species in the book The Role of Labor in the Transformation from Ape to Man. He put forward the viewpoint that "labor creates man". In other words, the emergence and evolution of human beings are realized under the influence of the development of labor process and social factors.
The publication of the Origin of Species caused a sensation in Europe and even the whole world. It has dealt a heavy blow to the foundation of theocracy, the control of religious circles over the world is weakening day by day, the scientific community is more enthusiastic about the search for truth, and ordinary people have also received far-reaching popular science education.
Darwin's Origin of Species has become a classic in the history of biology. Nowadays, many viewpoints mentioned in the Origin of Species have become well-known common sense. Darwin's theory of biological evolution has been continuously developed. In the early 1940s, Haldane, an Englishman, and Dubzhansky, a biologist from the United States and the Soviet Union, founded the "Modern Evolution Theory".
Modern evolutionists have abandoned Darwin's view that individuals are the basic units of biological evolution, and they believe that groups should be the basic units of evolution. Mutation itself is an adaptive trait of species, which is both the driving force and the result of evolution. The function of natural selection is not to select superior individuals, but to eliminate those who have no adaptability. Modern evolutionism explains many facts that classical Darwinism can't. Knowledge point modern evolution theory
Four basic viewpoints of modern evolution: (1) population is the basic unit of biological evolution. An individual in a species cannot survive for a long time, and the basic unit of long-term survival of a species is the population rather than the individual. (2) Natural selection determines the direction of biological evolution. (3) Mutation and gene recombination are raw materials for producing organisms. (4) Isolation is a necessary condition for the formation of new species. Isolation refers to dividing a population into many small populations so that they can't mate with each other, so that different populations will develop in different directions, and it is possible to form different species.
Modern evolutionism is a powerful supplement to the classical Darwinian evolutionism.