Charles Darwin made a huge impact on science. According to historians and philosophers of science, the comprehension of species led to the theory of a plausible origin in Darwin’s Message. Species were identifiable from varieties within species in that they have evolved gaps in formerly continuous morphological patterns and variation. But where did all of his works on these subjects go?
Charles Darwin frequently handed over his old papers to his children to scribble on. As a result, much of the original Origin of Species text that has survived is a collection of his children’s writing and drawings rather than his labor.
Who is Charles Darwin?
Charles Darwin was born in the English town of Shrewsbury in 1809. His father, a doctor, hoped that his son would go to Edinburgh University in Scotland and get a medical degree, which he did at sixteen. Natural history was Darwin’s main passion rather than medicine, and he felt sick to his stomach at the sight of blood. While pursuing his theology studies at Cambridge, he found that natural history was his true calling.
Darwin set sail as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle, a ship of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom, in 1831. The primary goal of the voyage was to scan South America’s coastline and document its harbors to improve regional maps. Darwin’s contribution was merely a bonus.
On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, was Darwin’s first book, and it contained his ideas on evolution and natural selection. It was both popular and contentious. Many people were convinced by the book that species change over time, a rather long time, suggesting that the planet was much older than previously thought: six thousand years.
Charles Darwin passed away in 1882 at the age of 73 in London, England, he is buried at the Westminster Abbey. (Source: National Geographic)
Darwin Children’s Work of Art
The Darwin Manuscripts Project was thrilled to publish 111 items of Cambridge University Library’s collection of drawings and stories by Darwin’s young children and other members of his household in 2015, the 206th year since Darwin’s birth. Darwin’s small children created drawings and wrote stories on the backs of Darwin’s draft manuscripts, and therefore only a few original copies of his significant works survived.
The Darwin family treasured these paintings and stories. So these exceedingly rare manuscripts of the Origin of Species, Origin Portfolios type notes, Cirripedia, and Orchids were saved thanks to the lucky confluence of the children’s play with their father’s science.
These valuable artifacts would have been destroyed if not for the efforts of scholars. Furthermore, the four Origin pages are among the 45 original Origin pages that have survived. The 600-page rough draft of the Cirripedia pages are the only ones that have survived that extensive work. However, most of the time, the children just utilized their father’s writing paper to create their work without his writing.
The Cirripedia pages are the only ones that have survived that considerable work. However, most of the time, the children just utilized their father’s writing paper to create their pictures and stories without his writing. One hundred eleven photos were offered, including 94 images created by the youngsters and 17 photographs containing Darwin’s handwritten drafts or notes. (Source: American Museum of Natural History)