IN CONTEXT
Scientific advance
1831–36 The voyage of the HMS Beagle takes the young naturalist Charles Darwin around the world.
1860 Thomas Huxley defends Darwin from an attack by the established Anglican church.
1863 Gregor Mendel demonstrates how genetics influence all plant life.
1871 Darwin’s The Descent of Man advances the view of sexual selection, whereby the most successful members of a species are naturally attracted to perpetuate the species.
1953 Discovery of DNA demonstrates how traits are passed on genetically.
Perhaps the most important scientist of the 19th century, Charles Darwin originally intended to follow his father into ...
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