On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

Charles Darwin’s seminal work is widely considered the most influential scientific treatise of the 19th century. Darwin presents the theory that populations evolve over time through natural selection—the process whereby organisms that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring, which often inherit and perpetuate those advantageous characteristics. It also put forward the theory of common descent, which proposed that biological diversity was the result of a branching pattern of evolution from a common ancestor.

Darwin’s theory of evolution has long excited controversy and, at times, outright hostility, but it has prevailed within the scientific establishment and is foundational to the field of evolutionary biology. Thinkers and writers in other fields have co-opted many of the ideas Darwin put forth in this work, using them to justify arguments for or against colonialism, free-market economics, and creationism, among other practices and ideas.