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The famous scientist and thinker, Charles Darwin, was born on February
12, 1809. His family lived not far from the River Severn, England.
Darwin's father was a well-known doctor
and the son of an still greater doctor and scientist. Darwin's father hoped that his son would also become a doctor.
As a boy, Darwin liked to go for walks in the fields and forests. He
watched nature, and compared what he saw with everything he had read in science
books. He also liked collecting very much. He collected many things, birds,
eggs, stones and leaves. His father did not like that, a Darwin not studying
very well at school.
At the age
of sixteen, Darwin was sent to
Edinburgh University to study in order that he could become a doctor. But he
was interested in the history of nature.
Then he was sent to study in Cambridge University. There he
studied until 1831.
Some time
later he heard that the ship Beagle was going on a trip to South America and
needed a centrist. His professor advised him to go. He said the trip would be
just for Darwin, So when the ship left England in December 1831. Darwin was on
it. He research lasted almost five years. The Beagle studied the waters in the
sea near South America. It also visited New Zealand, Australia and islands in
the Pacific. Darwin saw many new plants and animals. He collected all kinds of
plants.
In
1842 Darwin went to live in Kent, where he continued his studies of changes in
nature. Darwin understood that plants and animals are not always the same, and
that they really change.
By 1859
Darwin had finished his famous book "The origin of Spedes "(《物种起源〉). It made a great hit in the world of
science. He was opposed by the church and even by some scientists. But later,
more and more scientists agreed with him.