Darwin brought about a huge scientific change in our thinking about some fundamental questions, such as – who are we, where do we come from, why do we live and why do we exist.
On this day 212 years ago in the year 1809, the great scientist Charles Darwin, who propounded the theory of evolution of life, was born. Due to Darwin’s theory of evolution, science took a huge leap. Darwin’s theory established that no external or internal divine power or creator has any hand in the origin of life on earth, but the origin of life is due to chemical reactions and physical processes. And that too from inanimate substances!
Darwin brought about a huge scientific change in our thinking about some fundamental questions, such as – who are we, where do we come from, why do we live and why do we exist.
For the first time on February 12, 2009, Darwin’s birthday was celebrated as ‘Darwin Day’. In 2009, it was the occasion of the completion of two hundred years of Darwin’s existence, this celebration was celebrated not only in Britain, the birthplace of Darwin but also by science lovers from other countries. Since then, Darwin’s birthday was celebrated every year as Darwin Day.
Darwin was born in 1809 in a very wealthy family of Shrewsbury (England). His father was a famous doctor and he wanted Darwin to grow up to become a doctor. But Darwin was fond of hunting dogs, catching rats, horse riding, and exploring nature deeply. When he was only 22 years old, he got a golden opportunity to study the geography of different parts of the world by traveling on a seaplane named HMS Beagle. At the beginning of this journey, Darwin was strongly influenced by religious stereotypes. According to the then prevailing customs, all the species were created by God at the same time and they have remained the same since then. At that time there was also a belief that while creating each species, God had ideal anatomy in his mind, if something different from it is seen, then there must be some defect in it. Organisms of many species have this tendency to be cast in the same mold. If there is some variation, it is just a distortion.
During this voyage, Darwin studied a variety of fauna, flora, and fossils in the coastal areas of the continents of South America, Africa, and Australia, and brought a large number of their samples with him. In the fourth year of this trip, Darwin and his team made a detailed study of the birds and flora of the Galapagos Islands. On the continent of South America, he saw a new bird, it is called Finch. He saw more than 14 species of finches in the Galapagos Islands. The physical characteristics of these birds were completely different from the birds found in the rest of the world. Some of those birds ate only seeds, some only cactus, and some insects. There was variation in the shape of their beak, which depended on their diet. Darwin found that island tortoises had slight, but clear differences in the structure of their backshells.
By looking at the armor, it can be told which island’s tortoise is. He was curious that what is the reason for the difference between the beaks of birds of the same species and the shells of turtles? Solving this mystery, for the first time in human history, Darwin gave such a theory with scientific facts, which demolished the then beliefs about the evolution of organisms! According to this theory, the basic basis of all these changes is the store of diversity found in all species. Due to this natural diversity, over some time, species with new forms, body structures and can play new roles in nature have arisen.
When the Beagle’s journey was over, Darwin returned to London and studied his notes and samples thoroughly. In his mind, there was talk of artificial selection going on in those days i.e. creating different species of animals and plants by man choosing the traits according to his will. He thought that if man can create a new species, then is such a variety of creatures seen in nature the result of some continuous process of selection? But Darwin had no formula to indicate how this process of choice was applied in nature.
In his biography, Darwin wrote that ‘In 1837 I began a systematic review of my discoveries, 15 months later I read for my enjoyment an essay on the principle of population’ by Thomas Robert Malthus, which reads ‘An Essay on the Principle of Population’ The struggles were described.’ Interestingly, this book had nothing to do with biology even remotely. In the book, Malthus had propounded the principle that the population grows in the order of 2, 4, 8, 16… grow. As a result, the selective forces of nature, such as overcrowding, famine, disease, poverty, war, and sin destroy the incapacitated. Only capable people survive. Darwin extended this theory of Malthus further and propounded the theory of natural selection of species.
Under natural selection, there are two motivations at the root of all organisms: self-defense and reproduction.
All living beings, keeping themselves safe, constantly try to keep more and more of their children alive in the world. Darwin told us that most of the organisms in the world have originated from natural selection, that is, the process of automatic selection in nature. The theory of natural selection explains which forces choose the state of development. In the competition to maintain their existence, the species that survive, reproduce the next generation. It is the environment around the animals that decides which animal will survive and carry forward its generation and which animal will not be able to survive to carry forward its breed.
In Darwin’s book ‘Origin of Species published in 1859, the principle of bio-evolution has been discussed in detail, the basic elements of which are as follows-
> Diversity is found in organisms, due to which there are slight differences in their ability to live. Some have won less and some have won more. Some have fewer children and some have more. Those who have more ability to live, live by adapting to the environment and a new species emerges from them.
The origin of all species in the world is the same, they have evolved from the same type of bacteria. Life is related to each other, from small creatures to us humans all have a common ancestor. The pace of bio-evolution is very slow.
> All the species of the world are not created in one stroke but from the already existing species. The primary mechanism of evolution is natural selection.
Today we know that all the forms of life on earth have the same molecular biology as their foundation. They all use the same genetic code to make proteins from their genes. All genes, DNA Made up of chains. and even the DNA of different organisms. The series bears a lot of similarities. For example, the DNA chains of the genes of us humans and apes are 95-98 percent identical. The reason is that humans and apes originated from the same ancestor. Significantly, when Darwin gave the theory of bio-evolution, no one was familiar with the word DNA at that time, the only basis of Darwin’s preface was the observation of organisms.
After the publication of Darwin’s book Origin of Species, there was panic in the scientific world and it was fiercely opposed. This new understanding, new knowledge, and a new understanding of Darwin challenged religious beliefs. The Church and its followers did not accept Darwin’s theory of bio-evolution at all. He thought that Darwin’s theory would eliminate the difference between humans and animals. But a far greater charge that Darwin was accused of was that his theory questioned the very existence of God, his son Jesus and the Bible, the main scripture of Christians. According to the beliefs of Christianity, God has created the universe once and for once. According to him, the creation of man is not very old. About six thousand years ago man was created in the same form as man is today. In the same way, the other varietal creatures of the universe were also created in this form and they are complete. And this is what Charles Darwin changed. Based on painstaking, well thought out and scientific study throughout his life, he prepared the description of the development of life. As he also writes in 1859, ‘Each new species, carrying with it some changes, emerges from an ancestor species.’
Due to Darwin’s theory, there was a revolution in biology and it was also criticized a lot. But in the last 200 years, new evidence has come to the fore about bio-evolution and today it has become the most recognized theory in the world of science. Darwin’s theory of Who are we? Where have we come from? Where are we going? The answers to such basic questions as having been received so far are quite rich and concrete. Darwin’s theory of evolution became the basic basis of modern biology, as noted by the eminent biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky, ‘If there is no light of the theory of evolution, nothing in biology seems meaningful.’ However, after so many years of Darwin, biology has made so much progress that today we know such details, which if we had told Darwin, his eyes would have been wide open.
However, we conclude this article with Julian Huxley’s statement about Darwin: ‘Darwin’s work … brought the living world within the realm of natural laws. Now it is neither necessary, nor possible, to think that every animal or plant has been specially created or that their beautiful and best parts, which provide food and protection from the enemy, are the product of the thinking of some supernatural power, or there is a deliberate purpose behind the process of evolution… Thanks to the work of Darwin, we can see humans and our present civilization in a more realistic way. Man is not a final product devoid of the possibility of further development. It has a long history, and this history is not of decline, but rise. The doors of progressive development are still open for him..’
What do you think?