Charles Darwin

Table of Contents

You (R-FT194071) and Charles Darwin (R-M269) share a common paternal line ancestor (R-M269) who lived around 3900 BCE (6,000 years ago).

Charles Robert Darwin, an English scientist is famous for his discovery of evolution based on natural selection. His work was highly scrutinized but revolutionized several scientific fields.

Darwin was a prolific author, publishing several books and contributing to others. Between 1856 and 1858, Darwin synthesized his theory of natural selection, which resulted, the next year, in the publication of his most famous book “On the Origin of Species” in which he described his theory of evolution and provided compelling evidence. This cemented the evolutionary concepts that would evolve into the field of population genetics.

Y DNA and mitochondrial DNA phylogenetic trees provide wonderful examples of evolution in action as we track mutations that accumulate to form increasingly refined haplogroups. Ironically, Darwin may have suffered from a mitochondrially inherited genetic disorder that he would have inherited from his mother’s direct maternal line.

In 2010, Charles Darwin’s grandson Chris, who lives in Australia and is also an adventurer, took a Y DNA test through the Genographic Project and announced in an article that he and his famous grandfather were part of the most common European haplogroup. Chris said of his results, “This has given me new insight into who I am, but also into the human race. We are all one big family, and like all big families there are tense moments but it’s worth sticking together.”

Information sourced from Wikipedia, WikiTree, and the New Zealand Herald article “Darwin family DNA shows African origin.”