Port Darwin: see Darwin, Australia.

Darwin, Sir George Howard, 1845-1912, English astronomer and mathematician; 2d son of Charles Darwin. He was Plumian professor (from 1883) of astronomy and experimental philosophy at Cambridge, and a recognized authority on cosmogony. He wrote Scientific Papers (5 vol., 1907-16).

Darwin, Sir Francis, 1848-1925, English botanist, assistant to his father, Charles Robert Darwin. He lectured in botany at Cambridge and was foreign secretary of the Royal Society and president of the British Association. He edited the Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (1887) and was knighted in 1913.

Darwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802, English physician and poet. During most of his life he practiced medicine in Lichfield and cultivated a botanical garden. He was a prominent member of the Lichfield literary group, which included Anna Seward and Thomas Day. In a long poem, The Botanic Garden (1789-91), Darwin expounded the botanical system of Linnaeus. His Zoonomia (1794-96), explaining organic life according to evolutionary principles, anticipates later theories. He was the grandfather of Charles Darwin and of Francis Galton.

Darwin, Charles Robert, 1809-82, English naturalist, b. Shrewsbury; grandson of Erasmus Darwin and of Josiah Wedgwood. He firmly established the theory of organic evolution known as Darwinism. He studied medicine at Edinburgh and for the ministry at Cambridge but lost interest in both professions during the training. His interest in natural history led to his friendship with the botanist J. S. Henslow; through him came the opportunity to make a five-year cruise (1831-36) as official naturalist aboard the Beagle. This started Darwin on a career of accumulating and assimilating data that resulted in the formulation of his concept of evolution and his explication of natural and sexual selection. He spent the remainder of his life carefully and methodically working over the information from his copious notes and from every other available source.

Independently, the naturalist A. R. Wallace had worked out a concept of evolution similar to Darwin's. Wallace sent a paper outlining his theory to Darwin in 1858, and its striking coincidences with Darwin's work led Darwin's friends to move to assure that the more cautious Darwin, who had been slow to publish, would receive credit for the independence and priority of his ideas. The next year Darwin set forth the structure of his theory and massive support for it in the superbly organized On the Origin of Species, supplemented and elaborated in his many later books, notably The Descent of Man (1871). He also formulated a theory of the origin of coral reefs.

Darwin, Charles Galton, 1887-1962, English physicist and administrator. Educated at Cambridge, he worked under Ernest Rutherford at Manchester, where he collaborated with H. G. J. Moseley in fundamental work on X-ray diffraction by crystals. Following World War I he became a fellow and lecturer at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he and R. H. Fowler developed new methods of statistical mechanics that later served as a foundation for quantum statistics. Professor at Edinburgh from 1924 to 1936 and master of Christ's College from 1936, he directed the National Physical Laboratory during World War II, leaving the post in 1949. The last 15 years of his life were devoted to the study of the sociological implications of the population explosion, as reflected in his book The Next Million Years (1953).

Darwin, city (1991 pop. 67,946), capital of the Northern Territory, N Australia, on Port Darwin, an inlet of the Timor Sea. Remotely situated on the sparsely settled north coast, Darwin had no rail connection with any of the major Australian cities until 2003, when the line to Adelaide was completed. Australian military personnel and their dependents make up a large part of the population. Darwin is multicultural, with large Chinese and aboriginal populations. In World War II the city was heavily bombed by the Japanese; later a military airdrome, fuel-oil installations, and a wharf were built, and Darwin became a key Allied base. Originally called Palmerston, the town was renamed (1911) for Charles Darwin because its site had been a stop (1839) during a voyage of Darwin's ship, the Beagle. The city was almost completely destroyed by a cyclone in Dec., 1974. It was rebuilt and now attracts large numbers of tourists who visit nearby Kakadu National Park.

(born Dec. 12, 1731, Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died April 18, 1802, Derby, Derbyshire) British physician, poet, and botanist, grandfather of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. A freethinker and radical, Darwin often wrote his opinions and scientific treatises in verse. In Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life (1794–96), he advanced a theory of evolution similar to that of Lamarck, suggesting that species modified themselves by adapting to their environment in an intentional way. He initially enjoyed great success, but his work fell out of favour because of his unorthodox views on evolution. However, the extent of his influence on contemporaries and successors was far-reaching, and today he remains an important figure of historical interest.

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(born Dec. 12, 1731, Elston Hall, Nottinghamshire, Eng.—died April 18, 1802, Derby, Derbyshire) British physician, poet, and botanist, grandfather of Charles Darwin and Francis Galton. A freethinker and radical, Darwin often wrote his opinions and scientific treatises in verse. In Zoonomia; or, The Laws of Organic Life (1794–96), he advanced a theory of evolution similar to that of Lamarck, suggesting that species modified themselves by adapting to their environment in an intentional way. He initially enjoyed great success, but his work fell out of favour because of his unorthodox views on evolution. However, the extent of his influence on contemporaries and successors was far-reaching, and today he remains an important figure of historical interest.

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(born Feb. 12, 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.—died April 19, 1882, Downe, Kent) British naturalist. The grandson of Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and biology at Cambridge. He was recommended as a naturalist on HMS Beagle, which was bound on a long scientific survey expedition to South America and the South Seas (1831–36). His zoological and geological discoveries on the voyage resulted in numerous important publications and formed the basis of his theories of evolution. Seeing competition between individuals of a single species, he recognized that within a local population the individual bird, for example, with the sharper beak might have a better chance to survive and reproduce and that if such traits were passed on to new generations, they would be predominant in future populations. He saw this natural selection as the mechanism by which advantageous variations were passed on to later generations and less advantageous traits gradually disappeared. He worked on his theory for more than 20 years before publishing it in his famous On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859). The book was immediately in great demand, and Darwin's intensely controversial theory was accepted quickly in most scientific circles; most opposition came from religious leaders. Though Darwin's ideas were modified by later developments in genetics and molecular biology, his work remains central to modern evolutionary theory. His many other important works included Variation in Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868) and The Descent of Manelipsis (1871). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Seealso Darwinism.

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formerly Palmerston

Seaport (pop., 2006: city, 66,291; urban agglom., 105,991), capital of Northern Territory, Australia. Located on Port Darwin, a deep inlet of Clarence Strait in the Timor Sea, it has one of Australia's best harbours. The harbour was named in 1839 for Charles Darwin. The port, settled in 1869, was known as Palmerston until 1911. Located in a largely undeveloped region, Darwin is a supply and shipping centre for northern Australia. A military base in World War II, it was bombed by the Japanese in 1942, then extensively rebuilt. A cyclone in 1974 damaged or destroyed nearly all of the city; rebuilt a second time, it is now one of Australia's most modern cities.

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(born Feb. 12, 1809, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Eng.—died April 19, 1882, Downe, Kent) British naturalist. The grandson of Erasmus Darwin and Josiah Wedgwood, he studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh and biology at Cambridge. He was recommended as a naturalist on HMS Beagle, which was bound on a long scientific survey expedition to South America and the South Seas (1831–36). His zoological and geological discoveries on the voyage resulted in numerous important publications and formed the basis of his theories of evolution. Seeing competition between individuals of a single species, he recognized that within a local population the individual bird, for example, with the sharper beak might have a better chance to survive and reproduce and that if such traits were passed on to new generations, they would be predominant in future populations. He saw this natural selection as the mechanism by which advantageous variations were passed on to later generations and less advantageous traits gradually disappeared. He worked on his theory for more than 20 years before publishing it in his famous On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859). The book was immediately in great demand, and Darwin's intensely controversial theory was accepted quickly in most scientific circles; most opposition came from religious leaders. Though Darwin's ideas were modified by later developments in genetics and molecular biology, his work remains central to modern evolutionary theory. His many other important works included Variation in Animals and Plants Under Domestication (1868) and The Descent of Manelipsis (1871). He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Seealso Darwinism.

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