Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin was a British scientist who laid the foundation of modern evolutionary theory with his views on life development through natural selection. He was born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, on February 12, 1809. After graduating from the elite school at Shrewsbury in 1825, Darwin attended the University of Edinburgh where he studied medicine. In 1827 he dropped out and entered the University of Cambridge in preparation for becoming a clergyman of the Church of England. While there, Darwin met two important people in his life: Adam Sedgwick, a geologist, and John Stevens Henslow, a naturalist. After graduating from Cambridge in 1831, t