Why was Charles Darwin's theory Important?

Charles Robert Darwin was an English geologist, naturalist, and biologist, who is well known for his work on the theory of biological evolution by natural selection. He was the first person to observe adaptive radiation, discovered how humanity had evolved and also explained the theory of evolution, which is known as “Darwin’s theory of natural selection”, he also published a book, “The Origin of Species: By Means of Natural Selection”.

Also, read Natural Selection And Biological Evolution

There are many theories given by Charles Darwin, which are accepted and are still followed as the best available explanation of the existence of life on this planet earth. Charles Darwin’s theories had a deep impact on the understanding of the evolution of human life. There is great importance of Darwin’s theory and its impact was not limited to science itself.

According to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution:

• The first cellular forms of life that appeared on earth were about 2000 million years ago.
• Later single-celled organisms, followed by multicellular organisms, and invertebrates were formed and became active.
• Jawless fish evolved and different organisms started to invade from water to land. Later, amphibians, reptiles and some viviparous mammals came into existence.
• The primates, which evolved about 23.03 to 5.333 million years ago, resembled todays gorillas and chimpanzees.
• The modern Homo sapiens arose during the ice age between 75,000-10,000 years ago.
• All living organisms reproduce and multiply enormously.
• No two individuals are alike. They are different from each other either in their physical features, behaviour, etc.
• Some traits are consistently passed on from their parent to the offspring.
• The rate of reproduction varies in all living species. Some reproduce more and some minimum.
• Darwin’s theory of natural selection was based on some important observations such as:

1. Traits or Personalities are often inherited from parent to offspring.
2. Organisms are capable of producing more offspring
3. Offspring differ in their heritable traits.

Also read Darwin’s Contribution: The Theory of Evolution

This was a brief introduction to Charles Darwin’s theory. Stay tuned with BYJU’S to learn more about Charles Darwin’s theory and his contributions.