As many people already know, every living creature that lives life on this earth will definitely experience development or growth. The development of living creatures is often known as evolution . Evolution itself comes from the Latin word evolvo , which means stretching.
Every living creature will always experience development from time to time, including humans. Humans will experience development in their lives, we can see this development in the human’s physical condition, especially in body size, such as body weight and height.
Humans will always fight for anything in order to survive. In other words, humans who managed to survive were the result of natural selection. Before the existence of modern life like today, humans had to survive in the forest where they were prepared to be the hunted or hunters. Humans who are not ready for natural selection will be the ones hunted, whether by animals or other humans. In fact, sometimes there are fights between people just to seize power.
Basically, there are many theories that discuss human evolution, one of which is Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin stated that every living creature on earth will experience death or extinction if the living creature and its species are unable to survive natural selection. The loss of one species can give rise to other new species. Apart from that, Darwin also still explained many things related to the theory he expressed.
Check out the article about Darwin’s theory and a short biography of Charles Darwin below. Mudalovers, read this article until the end.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
Charles Darwin revealed this theory to the public in the 19th century. Not only Darwin’s theory, in this century many theories of human evolution have also emerged. The theory created by Darwin uses the basis or reference from the theory created by Lyell entitled Principles of Geology. It wasn’t just Lyel who inspired Darwin, the theory created by Thomas Malthus with his paper entitled An Essay on the Principle of Population also inspired Darwin’s theory.
Darwin discovered this theory when he was sailing on the British ship, HMS Beagle. The Utu voyage was carried out in 1831 with the aim of observing animals and plants. From the observations that Darwin had made, it turned out that he had doubts about previous studies which said that every living creature does not experience growth or development. According to Darwin, every living creature will experience growth or development,
To prove this, Darwin went to the Galapagos Islands which are 600 miles or 1,000 km from the coast of the United States. When he arrived there, he began to observe turtles which were quite large. From his observations of turtles, Darwin began to understand that turtles came from the same ancestor, only that these giant turtles had undergone evolution because they had been isolated on different islands.
Basically, Darwin already knew that when every living creature wants to have offspring, it can only be done through marriage, or it could be said to be a combination of sperm cells and egg cells. However, from this thought, Darwin arose the question “can diversity (egg cells and sperm cells) give rise to a new species? And “waiting for the changes that occur in living things, does the earth still have enough life?”
After these two questions arose, Darwin began looking for answers and he found an inspired answer from a geologist named Charles Lyell. Charles Lyell said that the age of the earth is much longer compared to humans. Charles Lyell was born in 1797 and died in 1875.
Based on Charles Lyell’s words, Darwin became interested in creating and developing a theory which is now known as the theory of natural selection. You can see Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection in the mocking bird which Darwin observed and researched. This observation or research was carried out in the Galapagos Islands, United States. Then from these observations he said that new species would emerge.
In the mocking bird species , the new species of mocking bird can be seen in the bird’s beak. A mocking bird’s beak will be different depending on the species of the bird and according to the place where the mocking bird lives or its habitat .
Book Recommendation: Charles Darwin’s The Origin of Species
A species arises in nature through competition for life. Life competition protects individuals who have favorable variations in life and will pass them on to their offspring. Charles Darwin called it the ‘principle of natural selection’. If the process of variation can make an organism win in a species, a species arises in nature through living competition. Life competition protects individuals who have favorable variations in life and will pass them on to their offspring. Charles Darwin called it the ‘principle of natural selection’. If the process of variation that can make organisms win in competition for life continues to occur, the variation will slowly become clear and evolve so that it is different from the original species. Life competition continues to occur, variations will slowly become clear and evolve so that they are different from the original species.
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Charles Darwin’s Theory of Human Evolution
Still on the same journey using the HMS Beagle ship around the world, it turned out that Darwin not only discovered the theory of natural selection, but he also discovered the theory of human evolution. He recorded the entire process of forming this theory in his book entitled The Origin of Species in 1859.
In creating this theory of human evolution, Darwin combined 3 theories at once, first, species, second, adaptation, and third, evolution. He got this idea while traveling or sailing around the world on the HMS Beagle. When he made this voyage, Darwin was still very young, namely 20 years old. Therefore, there is no need to doubt his love for research on living things.
In the theory of human evolution, Darwin said that the development of living creatures has undergone or gone through a very long process, so that many events have gone through in order to maintain the life of humans themselves. He also added that the development or evolution of living creatures comes from a process of division of single-celled living creatures and they become like the humans we often see today.
Living creatures that experience development must be able to adapt themselves to their environment or be able to survive. Things like this can be said to be a way for living creatures to adapt to their environment or can be said to survive . If living creatures are unable to adapt to nature, humans can experience death or even extinction.
However, Darwin said that with the death of living creatures that cannot adapt, a change will result. The emergence of these changes is based on natural selection.
Living creatures that die leave traces in the form of fossils, including humans. From these fossils, Darwin began to make observations or research on human evolution. He conducted research on human evolution based on his curiosity about the origins of humans being able to live in this world. However, it is very unfortunate that in this research, Darwin did not find an answer to the question of human origins.
By not finding the origins of humans as Darwin did, he only came to the conclusion that every living creature, including humans, would only originate from single-celled creatures which then divided themselves and experienced development or growth.
Thus, Darwin said that during his journey around the world by ship, he did not discover how humans could appear in this world.
Then, 4 years after the book The Origin of Species was discovered, an expert named Thomas H. Huxley used the results of the research carried out by Darwin to conduct research on human development or evolution. Huxley wrote notes on the results of this research in a book entitled Man’s Place in Nature .
From the results of this research, Huxley began to discover something related to humans, namely the existence of living creatures that have characteristics that are almost the same as humans. The living creatures in question are chimpanzees. According to Huxley, the similarity lies in the anatomical structure of chimpanzees and humans and the development process of chimpanzees and humans.
From research conducted by Charles Darwin and Thomas H. Huxley, it can be said that humans are not direct descendants of ape or chimpanzee species.
STD 03: CHARLES DARWIN – JD.ID
Charles Darwin first studied medicine, but finally decided to study the naturalist field which for him was more challenging. “The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection” is Charles Darwin’s book which argued that human ancestors were apes, which sparked controversy throughout that time.
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A Short Biography of Charles Darwin
It doesn’t feel complete if you only discuss Charles Darwin’s theory, but don’t discuss Charles Darwin’s biography. Darwin’s name became increasingly famous when he tried to reveal human origins. He was born on February 12, 1809 with the full name Charles Robert Darwin. Darwin’s birthday is the same as the birth date of the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. He was born in England, or more precisely in the Shrewsbury area, and came from a well-off family.
Darwin’s connection to living creatures apparently came directly from his family. Darwin’s father, RW Darwin, was a doctor and Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was an expert in botany. Darwin’s father really wanted his son to become a doctor. However, all these wishes could not come true because Darwin did not have the courage to see blood, he could even vomit.
When he was 16 years old, Darwin chose to continue his studies at the University of Edinburgh together with his younger brother. In just two years, he had continued his studies to a higher level. Darwin became a student at Christ’s College in Cambridge. While studying there, Darwin studied theology.
Darwin graduated from Christ’s College in 1831 and he graduated with a bachelor of arts degree. After graduating from Christ’s College, Darwin was invited by his mentor who was a professor, John Stevens Henslow and he was a botany professor and Darwin’s mentor at Christ’s College. Darwin was recommended by his mentor as a naturalist to take part in the voyage of the HMS Beagle.
The ship used by Darwin and his team, including professor John Stevens Henslow, sailed for five years to circumnavigate the world. Through this voyage, Darwin grew into a naturalist.
During this voyage, Darwin landed several times on various islands in the world. When he arrived at his destination island, Darwin began to carry out research or observations about the living creatures on each island. One of the islands that attracted Darwin’s attention was the Galapagos Islands, there he discovered many things about living creatures and began to develop a theory of the origins of living creatures, including humans.
Darwin recorded all his travels and research results in a journal entitled Journal of Researchers. The journal was written when the voyage around the world began to end and was heading back to England, or more precisely in 1836. The journal that had been written was then edited to become a journal with the title Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle.
While sailing on the HMS Beagle, Darwin ate animals that humans would not normally eat, such as ostriches, pumas and pangolins. This was done by Darwin to study or explore the animal world from its inner side.
Darwin had a history of heart disease and he had a seizure in March 1882. One month after the incident, Charles Robert Darwin breathed his last breath on 19 April 1882. Charles Robert Darwin was laid to rest at Westminster Abbey on 26 April 1882 next to a scientist, John Herschel and Isaac Newton.
Recommendation for the book The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
This book is a complete documentation of the results of Charles Darwin’s long research on the origins of living things. In his theory, Darwin revealed that the development of species was based on natural selection. This book contains Darwin’s assertion that species were not created all at once by divine hands, but began with a few simple forms which then mutated to adapt over time.
Evidence of the Truth of Charles Darwin’s Theory
Charles Darwin’s theory is getting stronger because in this theory there is evidence that can strengthen Charles Darwin’s theory. The following is evidence of the truth of the theory expressed by Darwin.
1. Fossils
As we know, every living creature, especially humans and animals, when they die or perish, leave behind fossils. These fossils are the bones of dead living creatures. When Darwin went on his voyage, he began to find various kinds of fossils that had been around for hundreds of years. The fossils discovered by Darwin were preserved in rock.
Darwin began conducting research on the fossils found with geologists (people who are experts in the field of rocks) and paleontologists (scientists who are experts in the field of fossils. From this research, human fossils were found that were around 55 million years old, namely Hyracotherium .
With the discovery of these fossils, it can be said that before Charles Darwin there were already many living creatures living their lives in this environment.
2. Evolution and Isolation
This proof based on evolution and isolation can be seen in the existence of animals that are similar, but not exactly the same. For example, there are lions that live in Africa, tigers that live in Asia, and so on. Lions and tigers belong to the same species, namely big cats. However, the physical condition of the two animals is not the same. Lions have feathers on their heads, while tigers don’t have thick feathers on their heads.
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Conclusion
Charles Darwin had done research on human origins, but he had not succeeded in finding the origins of humans. However, all the results of his research or observations recorded in the book The Origin of Species in 1859 were continued by someone named Thomas H. Huxley. Like Darwin, Huxley also recorded the results of his research in a book entitled Mans’s Place in Nature .
In his book, Huxley said that chimpanzees were creatures that had almost the same characteristics as humans today. Even though there are several characteristics that are almost the same, this does not mean that human evolution came from ape descent.