On the Origin of Species was a book by the English naturalist Charles Darwin, published by John Murray in London in November 1859. Darwin had been developing his ideas since his voyage on HMS Beagle in the 1830s, but he published only after Alfred Russel Wallace sent him a manuscript in 1858 that reached similar conclusions, and a joint paper was presented to the Linnean Society. The book argues that species change over time through natural selection, in which individuals with favourable traits survive and reproduce more often, and that all living things share common ancestry. The first printing sold out almost at once. It caused fierce debate with religious authorities, supported by scientists such as Thomas Huxley, and became the foundation of modern biology.
Before and after
- from 16 October 1859 to 18 October 1859John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
- 18 October 1859Birth of Henri Bergson
- 20 October 1859Birth of John Dewey
- from 25 October 1859 to 1 January 1862Prussian expedition to East Asia (1859-1862)
- 24 November 1859On the Origin of Species
- 15 December 1859Birth of L. L. Zamenhof
- 1860Discovery of caesium
- 1860Introduction of Finnish markka
- from c. 1860s to 1890sSecond Industrial Revolution
More in Science & technology
- 1789Discovery of uranium
- 1807Discovery of potassium
- 30 June 1808Discovery of boron
- 1810Discovery of fluorine
- 1823Discovery of silicon
- 1898Discovery of neon
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 19th century.