We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his noble qualities… still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin.

Charles Darwin

There was a pivotal moment in history when we began to look at ourselves, and at life, in a new way. It changed not just how we perceived ourselves, but how we were related to all the other life and species on Earth. We came to realize, along the way, that we were kin, however distant, of every lifeform on Earth, and that moment was both aggrandizing and humbling, all at once. That moment was when Charles Darwin brought the idea of the Law of Natural Selection into the limelight of the scientific world, and we began to see with clear eyes how everything, absolutely everything, was connected.

History of Darwin Day

Darwin was absolutely fundamental to the understanding of life and the species of the world as we know it today. Charles Robert Darwin was born in 1809 and grew to become a naturalist and geologist who would come to change the world. He was fascinated by the number and variety of fossils from around the world, and the species in their great diversity, and so set out on a five-year voyage on the Beagle to sail around the world to study life in all its forms.

While his theories were originally rejected by the science of his day, it came to be seen as incontrovertible fact as more and more data was collected and more species were discovered. DNA research pushed it even further, as we started to see the connections between species in the very genes that composed them. It was impossible not to see that some species originated from other species and that even man itself had a shared ancestor with the primates. Science would never be the same.

5 FUN FACTS ABOUT DARWIN

1. He suffered from chronic illness

   Thought to be a symptom of overwork after discovering his true calling for natural history, Darwin’s chronic illness plagued him with exhaustion, nausea, headaches, and heart palpitations — it’s thought that Darwin had Chagas’ disease.

2. Darwin was born on the same day as Abraham Lincoln

   February 12, 1809, must have been an auspicious day to welcome two important men into the world — while Abe Lincoln was born in a log cabin, however, Darwin was born in a luxurious mansion.

3. He got married based on a pro/con list

   In deciding whether to marry his cousin, Emma, Darwin crafted a pro/con list — he ended up going for the proposal, and the pair were married a year later.

4. “Survival of the Fittest” isn’t from Darwin

   Surprise! One of the most famous phrases associated with Darwin wasn’t coined by him at all; rather, the phrase was created by Herbert Spencer, an English philosopher — Spencer used the phrase to connect his own economic theories to Darwin’s work.

5. Darwin snacked on exotic animals

   Not just for educational purposes, we guess — Darwin was known to enjoy ostrich, puma, and armadillo on his voyage around the world.

DARWIN DAY DATES