Darwin's On the Origin of Species
Natural selection explains the diversity of life
In November 1859 Charles Darwin published his book on the origin of species by means of natural selection. The theory of evolution explained the diversity of life by natural processes, provoked fierce debate and became the foundation of modern biology.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 19th century
Did you know
Darwin and Lincoln were born on the same day: 12 February 1809.
Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) and Mendeleev's periodic law (1869) are just ten years apart.
Darwin spent five weeks on the Galápagos in 1835, but did not publish On the Origin of Species until 24 years later.
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1853–1856 Crimean War — 6 years earlier
- 1861 Emancipation of the serfs in Russia — 2 years later
- 1867 Alaska Purchase — 8 years later
- 1869 Tolstoy's War and Peace — 10 years later
- 1877 Premiere of Swan Lake — 18 years later
Middle East
- 1839 The Edict of Gülhane opens the Tanzimat — 20 years earlier
- 1839–1842 First Anglo-Afghan War — 20 years earlier
- 1876–1878 The first Ottoman constitution — 17 years later
Africa
- c. 1835–1846 The Great Trek — 24 years earlier
- 1847 Liberia declares independence — 12 years earlier
- 1869 Opening of the Suez Canal — 10 years later
- 1879 Battle of Isandlwana — 20 years later
Asia
- 1839–1842 First Opium War — 20 years earlier
- 1853–1854 Commodore Perry's Black Ships — 6 years earlier
- 1868 Meiji Restoration — 9 years later
- 1876–1878 Great Famine in India — 17 years later
- 1883 Eruption of Krakatoa — 24 years later
Americas
- 1861–1865 American Civil War — 2 years later
- 1863 Emancipation Proclamation — 4 years later
- 1864–1870 Paraguayan War — 5 years later
- 1876 Invention of the telephone — 17 years later
- 1879 Edison's incandescent lamp — 20 years later
Oceania
- 1851 The Australian gold rushes — 8 years earlier
Alive at the time
- Charles Darwin (aged 50)
- Abraham Lincoln (aged 50)
- Karl Marx (aged 41)
- Queen Victoria (aged 40)
- Fyodor Dostoevsky (aged 38)
- Leo Tolstoy (aged 31)
- Dmitri Mendeleev (aged 25)
- Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (aged 19)
- Thomas Edison (aged 12)
- Vincent van Gogh (aged 6)