Charles Darwin Naturalist, geologist, pioneering thinker

harles Darwin (1809–82) was born in Shrewsbury, son of a doctor and grandson of Enlightenment thinker Erasmus Darwin. His interest in natural history having, commanded by Robert FitzRoy, which set out to survey the South American coast before returning across the Pacific. The proved to be “by far the most important event in my life”, Darwin later wrote.