Darwin Day is a celebration to commemorate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on 12 February 1809. The day is used to highlight Darwin’s contribution to science and to promote science in general.
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist who changed the way humans viewed themselves and the world around them through his amazing ideas on evolution and natural selection.
Charles Darwin was born in England on the 12th of February 1809; he died on the 19th of April 1882.
He is most famous for his work on natural selection, the idea that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors. This process involves favourable traits becoming more common in successive generations of living things while at the same time unfavourable traits become less common.
Not only did Darwin develop the idea of natural selection, he also presented compelling evidence from his detailed research which included a five year voyage on the HMS Beagle. On this voyage, Darwin visited ecologically diverse regions such as Brazil, Chile, Australia, the Falkland Islands and the Galapagos Islands.
His 1859 book ‘On the Origin of Species’, detailed much of his research on natural selection, it contained a large amount of evidence to back up his ideas and became a landmark work in the field of evolutionary biology.
Darwin’s ideas created a lot of discussion regarding the impact on various scientific, religious and philosophical viewpoints. Although most of those in educated society accepted the theory of evolution, many still challenge its existence despite the wealth of evidence supporting it.
Darwin Day is celebrated around the world.
Taken from Wikipedia and Science Kids Web Site
