Question

How does the young Charles Darwin (well before the publication of On the Origin of Species) fit into the history of marine science?

Answer 1

Answer - Charles Darwin started university at 16 in Edinburgh, Scotland as a medical student. But in his academics, he showed little interest in medicine and was disgust by the brutality of surgery being performed without pain relief. However, his knowledge of natural history was incidentally enriched in Edinburgh by the teaching of Robert Grant, a noted professor of anatomy and an avid marine biologist. At Grant's suggestion, Darwin also became a member of Plinian Society  for student naturalists at the University of Edinburgh.Thus he got into the marine thing at his young age.

Afterwards, Charles Darwin's father then sent him to Cambridge University in 1828 to pursue ordinary degree. In Cambridge his life's direction continued its radical change. He became very interested in the scientific ideas of the geologist Adam Sedgwick and the naturalist John Henslow with whom he spent considerable time collecting specimens from the countryside around the university. Darwin had been exposed to the ideas of Lamarck about evolution earlier while he was a student in Edinburgh. Following graduation from Cambridge in 1831 with a Bachelor of Arts degree, Darwin was clearly more interested in biology and geology than he was in a clerical career. Fortunately, John Henslow was able to help him secure a berth on a British Navy mapping expedition that was going around the world on what would ultimately become a nearly five year long voyage. Initially, Darwin's father refused to allow him to go but was eventually persuaded by Charles and even agreed to pay for his passage and for that of his man servant on the journey. They sailed two days after Christmas in 1831 aboard the survey ship H.M.S. Beagle with Darwin acting as an unpaid naturalist and gentleman companion for the aristocratic captain, Robert Fitzroy. Darwin was 22 years old at the time, and Fitzroy was only 4 years older. There was little space, even for the captain. Darwin shared a cramped 10 X 11 foot cabin with two other men, a cabin boy, and their belongings. Fortunately, he was able to spend most of the time on land exploring. In fact, he was at sea for only 18 months during the nearly 5 years of the expedition.

Captain Fitzroy was interested in advancing science and was especially drawn to geology. He had a surprisingly good library of over 400 books onboard the Beagle that he made available to Darwin.  It was during the beginning of the voyage that Darwin read the first volumes of Charles Lyell's "Principles of Geology" and became convinced by his proof that uniformitarianism provided the correct understanding of the earth's geological history. This intellectual preparation, along with his research on the voyage, was critical in leading Darwin to later accept evolution.