DARWIN, CHARLES

born Feb. 12, 1809, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng. died April 19, 1882, Down House, Downe, Kent. in full Charles Robert Darwin English naturalist renowned for his documentation of evolution and for his theory of its operation, known as Darwinism. His evolutionary theories, propounded chiefly in two worksOn the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) and The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871)have had a profound influence on subsequent scientific thought. Darwin was the son of Robert Waring Darwin, who had one of the largest medical practices outside of London, and the grandson of the physician Erasmus Darwin, the author of Zoonomia, or the Laws of Organic Life, and of the artisan-entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood. Darwin thus enjoyed a secure position in the professional upper middle class that provided him with considerable social and professional advantages. Additional reading Francis Darwin (ed.), The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Including an Autobiographical Chapter, 3 vol. (1887, reissued in 2 vol., 1972); and Francis Darwin and A.C. Seward (eds.), More Letters of Charles Darwin, 2 vol. (1903, reprinted 1972), were written by one of Darwin's sons. James Moore, The Darwin Legend (1994), explains how the Darwin family crafted these volumes to protect Charles's public reputation. Frederick Burkhardt and Sydney Smith (eds.), The Correspondence of Charles Darwin (1985 ), provides a vivid portrait of the man and his thoughts on evolution in many previously unpublished letters.Paul H. Barrett (ed.), The Collected Papers of Charles Darwin, 2 vol. (1977, reprinted 2 vol. in 1, 1980), is a collection of his minor works. Darwin's earliest exposition of his discoveries is contained in Charles Darwin, The Foundations of The Origin of Species: Two Essays Written in 1842 and 1844, ed. by Francis Darwin (1909), also available as vol. 10 of the Works cited above; and in Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, Evolution by Natural Selection (1958, reissued 1971). Darwin's notes from his voyage are published in Paul H. Barrett (ed.), Charles Darwin's Notebooks, 18361844: Geology, Transmutation of Species, Metaphysical Enquiries (1987). Darwin's original manuscript on natural selection, of which On the Origin of Species was but an abstract, is presented in R.C. Stauffer (ed.), Charles Darwin's Natural Selection (1975, reissued 1987).Biographical works include Gertrude Himmelfarb, Darwin and the Darwinian Revolution (1959, reissued 1996), generally critical of Darwin's impact on modern society and morals; Adrian Desmond and James Moore, Darwin (1991), a highly readable biography emphasizing the importance of social influences in shaping Darwin's thought; Peter J. Bowler, Charles Darwin: The Man and His Influence (1990), a biography and assessment; and Janet Browne, Charles Darwin (1995 ), a massive and closely researched study. An examination of Darwin's botanical studies is Mea Allan, Darwin and His Flowers: The Key to Natural Selection (1977). Wilma George, Darwin (1982), discusses Darwin's biology. Darwin's illnesses and their impact on his thought are discussed in Ralph Colp, Jr., To Be an Invalid: The Illness of Charles Darwin (1977); and John Bowlby, Charles Darwin (1990).Studies of Darwin and his contemporaries include David Kohn (ed.), The Darwinian Heritage (1985), an important collection of essays, including revised interpretations of Darwin's position among his contemporary scientists; Roy MacLeod and Philip F. Rehbock (eds.), Darwin's Laboratory: Evolutionary Theory and Natural History in the Pacific (1994), including essays on Darwin's Pacific research, biogeography, and Social Darwinism; and David Amigoni and Jeff Wallace (eds.), Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species: New Interdisciplinary Essays (1995), an eclectic but interesting collection. The intellectual origins and fate of Darwinian thought are discussed in Peter J. Bowler, The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolution Theories in the Decades Around 1900 (1983, reissued 1992), Evolution: The History of an Idea, rev. ed. (1989), and Darwinism (1993). Michael Ruse, The Darwinian Revolution (1979, reissued 1981), provides a philosophically oriented study of the reactions of the British scientific community between 1830 and 1875 to the idea of evolution. Neal C. Gillespie, Charles Darwin and the Problem of Creation (1979), is a study of how Darwin and his contemporaries dealt with the idea of special creation. Adrian Desmond, The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London (1989), analyzes radical evolutionary thought in Britain in the 1820s and '30s as background to explaining the formation and reception of Darwin's ideas. The contemporary reception of Darwin's ideas and their impact on Victorian literature are discussed in Gillian Beer, Darwin's Plots: Evolutionary Narrative in Darwin, George Eliot, and Nineteenth-Century Fiction (1983); and Alvar Ellegard (ed.), Darwin and the General Reader: The Reception of Darwin's Theory of Evolution in the British Periodical Press, 18591872 (1958, reissued 1990).Important reinterpretations of Darwin's work can be found in Dov Ospovat, The Development of Darwin's Theory: Natural History, Natural Theology, and Natural Selection, 18381859 (1981, reissued 1995), a revisionist suggestion that Darwin's theory of natural selection underwent a radical change between the late 1830s and the publication of On the Origin of Species; and four articles in Journal of the History of Biology: Sandra Herbert, The Place of Man in the Development of Darwin's Theory of Transmutation, parts 1 and 2, 7(2):249257 (Fall 1974) and 10(2):155227 (Fall 1977), an important reinterpretation of Darwin's development; and Frank Sulloway, Darwin and His Finches: The Evolution of a Legend, 15(1):153 (Spring 1982), and Darwin's Conversion: The Beagle Voyage and Its Aftermath, 15(3):325396 (Fall 1982), a revised account of Darwin's interpretation of the Galapagos animals, with convincing arguments that Darwin came to his conclusions after his return from the voyage. Bettyann Kevles The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica Major Works: Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle . . . (1839); The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs (1842); On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life (1859); On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilised by Insects, and On the Good Effects of Intercrossing (1862); On the Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1865); The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868); The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, 2 vol. (1871); The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872); Insectivorous Plants (1875); The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom (1876); The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species (1877); The Power of Movement in Plants (1880); The Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits (1881).A comprehensive modern edition of Darwin's writings is The Works of Charles Darwin, ed. by Paul H. Barrett and R.B. Freeman, 29 vol. (198789). Of numerous editions of the Journal of Researches, the best is Voyage of the Beagle, ed. by Janet Browne and Michael Neve (1989), with a fine and informative introduction by the editors.