Charles Darwin

            Over the last two centuries one of the most popular debates has been over creationism and evolution. Many intelligent people have tried to prove that either creation or evolution exist and neither side has ever won as the fight still continues today with more support for evolution. The most popular and controversial man, who came up with the theory of evolution was Charles Darwin, who experienced positive and negative situations throughout his life in which most people would not want to be in. He was criticized, ridiculed, disrespected in the newspapers, through letters or even in person. When he came up with the theory of evolution he could not tell most people because he understood the reaction that would follow. This was hard for him because he had worked so hard on his research and had a lot of proof yet had to be scared of his colleagues and especially the Church. But even with all that was going to happen, Darwin was brave enough and introduced himself to the world as a courageous man who supported a legitimate theory despite the criticism of his contemporaries.
             At the beginning, evolution had no meaning to Darwin, it did not cross his mind and so he did not think about it, he just enjoyed to go hunting and be outdoors. He read his grandfather's book, Revolutions in Biology, and at first it meant nothing, it was just another book. However, later, especially while he traveled around the world on the Beagle ship, it started to make sense and come together. In Scotland he met Robert Grant, a zoologist in the study of marine animals and Robert Jameson, a geologist who gave Darwin a growing interest in the history of the Earth. Another huge influence on Darwin was a Botanist named John Henslow who encouraged Darwin's excitement about science and gave him confidence in his own abilities. Henslow also encouraged Darwin to read what would turn out to be his most important and most encouraging book, Principles of Geology, written by Charles Lyell.