[Clicking on the titles of Darwin's works will take you to their full text at Project Gutenberg and other sites.]
1809-12 February Born at Shrewsbury.
1818 begins schooling at Shrewsbury School.
1825-27 Attends Edinburgh University.
1827 27 March Contributed two scientific papers to the radical student Plinian Society.
1827-31 Attends Christ's College, Cambridge University (image).
1829 Entomological tour of northern Wales with Prof. F.W. Hope.
1831 August Geological tour of North Wales with Prof. Adam Sedgwick.
1831 29 August Receives letter with offer to sail on H.M.S. Beagle.
1831 27 December H.M.S. Beagle sails from Devonport.
1832 23 September Darwin finds his first significant fossils.
1835 September studies the natural history of the Galapagos Islands.
1836 2 October H.M.S. Beagle returns to England.
1837 31 May Reads his theoretical paper on coral reef formation to London Geological Society.
1837 Begins first notebook on "Transmutation of Species".
1838 July Begins further notebooks on man and materialism.
1838 September First formulates theory of evolution by natural selection.
1839 29 January Marries cousin Emma Wedgwood.
1842 published The structure and distribution of coral reefs; moves to Down
1844 Robert Chambers' Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation published anonymously. Darwin published Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle
1845 publishes Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World
1846 Begins eight-year study of barnacles. Publishes Geological Observations on South America
1858 18 June Receives letter from Alfred Russel Wallace discussing very similar theory of evolution prompts Darwin to go public at last.
1858 July Papers by Darwin and Wallace, announcing theory of evolution through natural selection, read in absentia at Linnaean Society, London.
1858 20 July Begins writing Origin of Species.
1859 19 March Finished writing Origin of Species.
1859 24 November Origin of Species published, all 1,250 copies sold on first day.
1865 publishes The Movements and Habits of Climbing Plants
1868 publishes The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication
1871 Publishes The Descent of Man.
1872 Publishes The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals.
1876 Publishes The Effects of Cross and Self Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom
1877 publishes "A Biographical Sketch of an Infant" & The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species
1881 Publishes The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits.
1882 Dies at Down House, buried in Westminster Abbey.
Created 2002
Last modified 4 August 2012