Evolution of a Scientist

摘要

On a december night in 1831, hms Beagle, on a mission to chart the coast of South America, sailed from Plymouth, England, straight into the 21st century. Onboard was a 22-year-old amateur naturalist, Charles Darwin, the son of a prosperous country doctor, who was recruited for the voyage largely to provide company for the Beagle's aloof and moody captain, Robert FitzRoy. For the next five years, the little ship—just 90 feet long and eight yards wide—sailed up and down Argentina, through the treacherous Strait of Magellan and into the Pacific, before returning home byway of Australia and Cape Town.