5. Charles Darwin: Who was he?

Which statement best describes English society in the 1800's while Darwin was researching and writing about species?

• Most people were educated, lived in cities, and embraced Darwin's ideas about natural selection and all living organisms having a common ancestor.

• More than half of the people living in England were rural farmers; mostly everyone believed that God had created all living creatures.

• Only men were allowed to be scientists at that time, so Darwin only corresponded with other white males.

• Slavery was eliminated and made illegal in England but Darwin and his family supported slavery.

All of the following statements about Darwin are true EXCEPT for

• Darwin was highly curious about the natural world

• Darwin collected many specimens over his lifetime, including rocks, shells, beetles, plants, and more.

• Darwin wrote many letters to fellow scientists, family members, and peers over his lifetime.

• Darwin loved learning about blood, surgeries, and medicine which is why he almost became a medical doctor.

Darwin took college classes on botany, biology, and geology, BUT he had originally planned to study _______________________ & ________________________________.

• beetles and shells

• religion and medicine

• letter-writing and greenhouse plants

• finches and tortoises

Each of these strange facts are TRUE about Darwin EXCEPT:

• Darwin's experiments with vegetables in his bathtub did not support his theory of dispersal (or how plants and animals can spread out from one place to another).

• Darwin once popped a beetle into his mouth to capture it.

• Darwin joined a club devoted to tasting strange animal meat (the Glutton Club)

• Darwin once composed a pro/con list to decide on whether to get married to Emma Wedgwood.

If you pick any two species, like a tortoise and a marine iguana for example, and search back far enough in time, they will have a ________________________________________ just like Darwin's finches.

• Genetic inheritance

• Variation

• Common ancestor

• DNA

What did Charles Darwin observe in finch populations of the Galapagos Islands off the coast of South America?

• different species on different islands

• all species on one of the islands

• identical species on all the islands

• the same species as in England

Darwin traveled to each of these places EXCEPT for

• Hawaii

• South America

• The Galapagos Islands

• Australia

Charles Darwin's personality can BEST be described as

• Uninterested and bored

• Rude and inconsiderate

• Proud and self-centered

• curious and detail-oriented