Charles darwin biography galapagos islands

University Days

Darwin’s dad could see that he was not doing well at school and when he was old enough he sent him to the University of Edinburgh to study medicine.

Unfortunately Darwin didn’t try very hard at university because he thought his dad would just pay for him to have a good life! He found the lectures boring and said that the subject of medicine disgusted him.

Luckily for Darwin, he made some friends who were interested in nature like he was, including a Professor called Robert Grant.

By this time, scientists had begun to discuss the idea of evolution and Grant talked about these ideas with Darwin. Darwin’s own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, had written a book called Zoönomia in 1794, but Darwin said that the problem was that nobody had any evidence to back up their ideas.

When Darwin’s dad found out that his son wasn’t enjoying University any more than he had enjoyed school, he asked him to study to become a clergym