Charles Darwin is born in Shrewsbury
On this day · 12 February 1809
The naturalist whose voyage and patient study would reshape biology was born the same day as Abraham Lincoln.
Charles Robert Darwin was born on 12 February 1809 at The Mount, his family’s home in Shrewsbury, England — the fifth of six children of the physician Robert Darwin and Susannah Wedgwood. By coincidence, he shared his birthday with Abraham Lincoln.
Darwin’s defining adventure came aboard HMS Beagle, which sailed in December 1831 on a near five-year survey voyage. The fossils, finches, and tortoises he observed planted the seed of a dangerous idea.
He sketched a theory of evolution by natural selection as early as 1842, then spent years building his case — including an eight-year study of barnacles — before publishing On the Origin of Species in 1859. The first print run sold out immediately.
Cautious to a fault, Darwin sat on his theory for nearly two decades before a rival’s letter finally forced him into print.
His work remains the organizing principle of modern biology.
Sources & references
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