Charles Darwin

On this day in 1836, the HMS Beagle returned to England after a five-year voyage around the world. 

It was a revelatory trip for ship’s naturalist, Charles Darwin, who found the building blocks to his evolutionary theory in the many fossils and diverse species he discovered on his excursions. It would be another 23 years before he published the Origin of Species. Often, Darwin is depicted on the Beagle as an old man; but he was just 22 when he sailed away and still a young 27 when he returned with boxes full of specimens and a brain swirling with new ideas.