Research Paper-Charles Darwin
Charles
Darwin
and
his
Impact
on
Science
Charles Darwin was a scientist, specifically a naturalist, in the mid to late 1800’s. He proposed
many theories to the world of natural science that were later proven to be laws, which shows
that he had a huge impact on the science world. His two most important advances were the
Theory of Evolution and the Theory of Natural Selection. He also studied the importance of
Genetics. Darwin’s ideas have also had issues with religions, but they have still been proven to
be correct. I did all of my research on the internet, and was very intrigued by what I found. I
learned a lot by doing this paper, and I am still continuing to learn. I chose to only use Internet
research because it had the most information and was the most easily accessible. The internet
is full of scholarly journals and other websites that are present so that you can learn
information. Charles Darwin and his studies are very controversial, so there are endless
amounts of information about him and what he did, especially here. This internet research led
me to a journal named Genetics, which I have continued to read even after the research for this
paper and the annotated bibliography. This research enabled me to learn and inform a lot
about Charles Darwin and his advances in science. His theory of evolution explains what we
have been puzzled by for centuries, which is how we humans came into being. This theory
states that all human, animal, or plant came from common ancestry (Wikipedia). Darwin’s
theory of natural selection states that the better, more advanced traits in a population become
more popular than the lesser traits (Wikipedia). Natural selection plays a huge part in the role
of evolution. This is because in order to evolve, the being needs to have a better trait to evolve
into. For example, the human toes have adapted so that we can walk steadily on a surface.
Darwin also studied genetics, however he did not make nearly as much progress as his studies
of evolution and natural selection. This is because he failed to grasp an understanding of
something that Gregor Mendel, a famous Geneticist, did accomplish, which was how
inheritance worked. I also learned that there was, and still are, a lot of controversy between
religions and Darwin. Many religions deny Darwin because they believe the world came about
the way that their religions said, such as Christianity and the book of Genesis in the Bible. They
have also come up with their own ideas about evolution, which are less plausible to scientists,
such as intelligent design creationism. The people that believe in intelligent design creationism
are called creationists. They believe that evolution may have occurred slightly by natural
selection, but a greater being introduced the life forms onto earth. These results showed that
even though he was doubted, Charles Darwin was a genius in his field of interest. He produced
many laws that are still leading beliefs in natural science today. Evolution and natural selection
are the central ideas in modern biology, therefore his laws are what all science and research in
biology are based off of. Darwin has been compared to Galileo, Einstein, and others for his
production of the laws that hold such importance in the science world. Darwin was, and still is,
doubted by a few, even though his studies that state life on earth has evolved have never been
refuted.
All in all, I have showed that Darwin was a genius of his time. He proposed two theories to
natural science that have never been proven wrong, even though many have tried to disprove
it. Many religions have issues with the ideas of Darwin, which is mainly the reason that his
theories have been denied, and this inhibits the theories to move forward at their full potential.
All of my research was done online, which is risky in some cases, but I am confident that my
resources were credible. Charles Darwin has had a huge impact on science not only in the past,
but still today. His ideas are still continuing to grow even though he is no longer here, and I
believe that his ideas will never be proven wrong.