Charles Robert Darwin, the grandson of the English scientist Erasmus Darwin, studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and prepared for the ministry at Cambridge. Following his abiding interest in natural history, however, he became a naturalist and sailed in this capacity on the H.M.S. Beagle from 1831 to 1838. The Beagle's expedition took Darwin to various Southern Pacific islands and to the coasts of South America and Australia.

Returning to England, Darwin became the secretary of the Geological Society and, in 1840, published a treatise, "Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle." At this time he met Sir Charles Lyell, who encouraged him to write about his inbreeding experiments and to expound on his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Later, in 1844, Darwin received from a fellow naturalist, Alfred Wallace, notes outlining a theory - parallel to, but independent of, his own - on natural selection. Darwin carried on his research and, in 1858, published an essay delineating his own evolutionary theory along with Wallace's findings. The following year, The Origin of Species appeared. The book's first edition sold out in one day, stirring an immediate clamor of controversy. It is still recognized as one of the most disputed yet important works of biological study

Darwin went on to publish The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants (1865), The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868), The Descent of Man (1871), and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). The Origin of Species has powerfully influenced nearly every contemporary field of scientific and philosophical study: biology, literature, law, psychology, sociology, theology, and other fields of intellectual pursuit.

Despite the length and weighty content of Darwin's work, the text is remarkably easy reading. Unfortunately, through all the tempest and fanfare that have followed it for almost one and a half centuries, few have actually studied its pages.

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