It was revolutionary.

This month, 150 years ago, Charles Darwin published "On the Origin of Species."

Darwin's experiences as the naturalist on the HMS Beagle on its five-year 'round the world voyage were just part of a life-long love of natural science. He actually spent much of his time exploring the foreign landscapes while the Beagle mapped the shoreline and potential harbors.

Darwin spent the summer before he embarked on the Beagle assisting Professor Sedgwick with mapping the rocks of Wales �” including cataloging the fossils therein. Prior to that, as a university student and while training to be a parson, Darwin studied anatomy and botany, and practiced taxidermy. Throughout his life, Charles observed and studied and collected nature, from barnacles and beetles to rock and fossils. As an adult, Darwin even bred fancy pigeons. (Purposeful breeding of livestock for specific traits was already well-established and his experiences in such husbandry played a role in his thinking.)

Of course, Darwin also built on the observations and analyses of others. Charles learned from geologists and zoologists and botanists, and he conversed and corresponded with other important scientists of his time.

Darwin wasn't the only one to mull revolutionary concepts. Many people in Darwin's time and before recognized biological diversity and relatedness, and speculated that populations of organisms might change over time. In fact, Charles' illustrious grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was one who proposed in the late 1700s that all species arose from a single organism.

But it was Charles Darwin who recognized the key mechanism for such change and effectively coined the label, "natural selection." It was Charles Darwin who drew compelling examples from his personal observations. And it was Charles Darwin who presented an entirely natural origin for the diversity and similarity of life.

In simplest terms, natural selection is the process by which certain inherited characteristics make it more or less likely an individual will survive and have offspring with those characteristics; over generations, more of a population will tend to have the "better" characteristics. Given enough generations and given changing situations, one individual can eventually give rise to populations that are very different from the original. Natural selection was the key that made the other parts fall into place.

Unbeknownst to Darwin, William Wells and Patrick Mathews separately postulated the gist of natural selection, but didn't support it as thoroughly and as convincingly as Darwin and didn't get the press that Darwin received.

Darwin observed and pondered and drew the parts together and stuck out his neck to offer them. His expression of that long-labored flash of insight became a watershed moment.

"On the Origin of Species" caused quite a stir �” and continues to do so. The various forces in evolution will probably long be identified and considered and tested, questioned and championed. Ultimately, as good science does, the concepts both answer questions and help us ask new questions.

Darwin's insight on the dynamic flux of populations is a linchpin of today's understanding of how life works: It transformed how we view the natural world.

For information on how to arrange an exploration of our fascinating natural history, contact Marty at (541) 267-4027, or e-mail mgiles@wavecrestdiscoveries.com.