Darwin biography video
Documentary telling the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, a book which explains the wonderful variety of the natural world as emerging out of death and the struggle of life.
In the twenty years he took to develop a brilliant idea into a revolutionary book, Darwin went through a personal struggle every bit as turbulent as that of the natural world he observed. Fortunately, he left us an extraordinary record of his brilliant insights, observations of nature, and touching expressions of love and affection for those around him. He also wrote frank accounts of family tragedies, physical illnesses and moments of self-doubt, as he laboured towards publication of the book that would change the way we see the world.
The story is told with the benefit of Darwin's secret notes and correspondence, enhanced by natural history filming, powerful imagery from the time and contributions from leading contemporary biographers and scientists.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hd1mr
Scherrikar Bell:
He proposed a brand new idea to explain the origin of all species on earth and wrote it all down in a book called, "On the Origin of Species." Yep, this guy.
Charles Darwin:
Charles Darwin.
Scherrikar Bell:
Adventurer, writer, scientist and big beard fan.
Scherrikar Bell:
Charles Robert Darwin was born on the 12th February 1809 in Shrewsbury and lived in a massive house called The Mount. From a young age Charlie had an interest in natural history and collecting things. But the theory that made Darwin famous didn't come to him overnight, he didn't have an Isaac Newton moment where a bird flew into his face and he was like,
Charles Darwin:
Ah! You know what? These birds have changed over many years based on their environment
Scherrikar Bell:
It was in fact extensive research and life experience that helped him make one of the biggest scientific discoveries of the Victorian age, or of any age, really. So, we need to tell the whole story starting with The Beagle. No, not the dog. Although, yes, I'm sure beagles are a part of Darwin's theory too, but in this case, The Beagle is the name of a ship, a ship that Darwin found himself on in 1831, a few years before the Victorian era technically began, but stay with me. The voyage was only supposed to last for two years but then the captain was like, "Yep, we're running a tad late."
Charles Darwin:
"How late?" .
Scherrikar Bell:
Well, we're about three years behind schedule.
Charles Darwin:
Oh.
Scherrikar Bell: Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection made us rethink our place in the world. The idea that humans shared a common ancestor with apes was a challenge to the foundations of western civilisation. Darwin kept silent for 20 years before going public and was only half joking when he described writing his book 'On the Origin of Species' as 'like confessing a murder'. This is the story of one man’s struggle with the most radical idea of all time. Charles Robert Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, the fifth of six children of wealthy and well-connected parents. The young Charles had a quietly Christian upbringing, but his family life was one of openness to new ideas. His grandfathers had both been important figures of the Enlightenment: Josiah Wedgewood, industrialist and anti-slavery campaigner, and Erasmus Darwin, a doctor whose book ‘Zoonomia’ had set out a radical and highly controversial idea - that one species could 'transmute' into another. Following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, Darwin secured a place at Edinburgh University to study medicine. He did not make a good medic. This was long before anaesthetic, and Darwin found the brutal techniques of surgery too stomach-churning to handle. But there was an upside. Edinburgh was one of the best places in Britain to study science. It attracted free thinkers with radical opinions that would not have been tolerated in Oxford and Cambridge. Among other things, Darwin heard speakers talk about the latest theories of transmutation, as evolution was then known. Abandoning plans to be a doctor, Darwin now considered a career in the Church. Aged 18, he went to study Divinity at Cambridge. Though he held fairly conventional beliefs in God, Dar .
But that did mean more time to collect samples from exotic islands which Darwin was pretty happy about. Some of the most important and beautiful islands that Darwin visited were the Galapagos Islands. A small cluster of tropical islands just off the coast of North South America. North South? A small cluster of islands west of Ecuador. There. The Galapagos Islands are so important David Attenborough made a TV show about them. The isl The man who struggled with his own ideas
12 Feb 1809
Born into a free-thinking family
1825
New ideas in Edinburgh
1827
Collecting beetles in Cambridge