Charles Darwin and Professor Henslow

Not for Charles Darwin the time-honoured student life - drinking, parties and just enough work to get by.

Research, published in the magazine Nature, reveals that while the rest of his mates were propping up the University bar, Darwin was already dreaming up his theories on evolution (though you can learn a lot about the LACK of evolution in a student bar.)

The article is the work, in part, of Dr Mark Whitehorn, a Business Intelligence expert at University College Worcester.

It is widely believed that Darwin first became interested in variation, one of the central pillars of the theory of evolution, during his journey aboard HMS Beagle.

This latest research doesn't argue with Darwin's place as the Father of Evolution, but it does suggest that his interest in the systematic study of variation arose much earlier than was thought and was sparked by the original work carried out by his mentor at Cambridge University, Professor John Henslow.

Beagle bound

The article claims that it was Professor Henslow's botanical investigations on the nature of species that established the necessary framework for Darwin’s subsequent evolutionary thought.

This is what the research is based on

Between 1821 and 1835 Professor Henslow establishing an Herbarium composed of 10, 172 plants attached to 3, 654 herbarium sheets.

He used a variety of specimen collectors, one of whom was the young Charles Darwin, who enrolled at Cambridge in 1827 – four years before sailing on the Beagle.

It was also Professor Henslow who subsequently arranged Charles Darwin’s berth on HMS Beagle.

Ironically Professor Henslow was a devout Christian, who believed in Creationism.

Dr Mark Whitehorn

"Far more than just recommending Darwin for the Beagle, we believe Henslow launched Darwin's mind during those undergraduate days on an intellectual voyage that led from a belief in species-stability to the mutability expressed in the Origin of Species." said Dr Whitehorn.

He believes the research had already caused "a significant stir among the scientific community" and that the team had several future research projects to work upon.

The article in nature is the work of:

• Dr Mark Whitehorn, a Business Intelligence expert at UCW
• Professor David Kohn a noted Darwin scholar at Drew University in the USA
• Professor John Parker, a botanist at the University of Cambridge