什麼是達爾文

Darwin, Charles (Robert)

英國博物學家。祖父是伊拉斯謨斯.達爾文（Erasmus Darwin），外祖父是維吉伍德（Josiah Wedgwood）。他在愛丁堡大學攻讀醫學，又在劍橋大學攻讀生物。後來被推薦為考察船「小獵犬號」（Beagle）的博物學家，前往南美洲及南部海域進行長時期的科學調查之旅（1831～1836）。他把旅途中在動物學及地質學上的發現撰寫下來，成為許多重要的出版品，並形成演化論的基礎。他觀察到同一物種之個體間的競爭，例如，在同一地的羣體中，喙較尖的個體比較有機會生存及繁殖，而且，如果這樣的特徵傳給新世代，會成為往後世代的支配性特徵。他把這種自然選擇（natural selection）視為有利之變異傳給後代而不利之特徵逐漸消失的機制。達爾文鑽研於他的理論二十年，在1858年與華萊士（Alfred Russel Wallace）一起出版論文。着名的《物種起源》（On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, 1859）一出版即供不應求，而他具有強烈爭議性的理論很快被大部分科學界人士所接受；但宗教領袖是反彈最大的勢力。雖然達爾文的理念後來被遺傳學及分子生物學的發展所修正，他的作品仍是現代演化論的中心。其他許多重要着作包括《馴化動植物的變異》（Variation in Animals and Plants Under Domestication, 1868）和《人類的後裔》（The Descent of Man, 1871）。死後葬於西敏寺（Westminster Abbey）。亦請參閲Darwinism。

1809～1882年

Darwin, Charles (Robert)

British naturalist. The grandson of Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, he studied medicine at Edinburgh University and biology at Cambridge. He was recommended as naturalist on HMS Beagle, which was bound on a long scientific survey expedition to South America and the South Seas (1831-36). His zoological and geological discoveries on the voyage resulted in numerous important publications, and formed the basis of his theories of evolution. Seeing competition between individuals of a single species, he recognized that within a local population the individual with, for example, the sharper beak might have a better chance to survive and reproduce, and that if such traits were passed on to new generations they would be predominant in future populations. He saw this natural selection as the mechanism by which advantageous variations were passed on to later generations and less advantageous traits gradually disappeared. He worked on his theory for 20 years before publishing a paper in 1858 with Alfred Russel Wallace. His famous On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) was immediately in great demand and his intensely controversial theory was accepted quickly in most scientific circles; most opposition came from religious leaders. Though Darwin's ideas were modified by later developments in genetics and molecular biology, his work remains central to modern evolutionary theory. His many other important works included Variation in Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868) and The Descent of Man . . . (1871). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. See also Darwinism.