Page 14 - Research 1.0

In order to maintain discipline, ship captains were forbidden
to fraternize with the crew. That made their stressful and

demanding job a very lonely one and they were allowed to
invite qualified civilians on voyages to alleviate that
burden. The mission assigned to Captain FitzRoy and the Beagle
was the mapping and charting the southern coast of South
America. It was the fact that Darwin was also a budding
naturalist that lead one of his theology professors to commend
him to Captain FitzRoy.

All during the voyage, Darwin had been sending reports,
fossils and specimens back to his scientific acquaintances in
England all of which were eagerly received. It was his
inquisitive mind and attention to detail that brought him to
the attention of Britain's prestigious Royal Society, the

equivalent of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
(The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit
institution that was established under a congressional
charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. It
recognizes achievement in science by election to membership.)
Like the Academy of Sciences, membership in the Royal Society
is an honor rewarding one's scientific achievements. Darwin

returned to England in 1836 and three years later was elected
a Fellow of the Royal Society. Darwin was fully accepted as
a naturalist of note. It was in 1839 that he first published
his account of the five year expedition, later titled "Voyage
of the Beagle".

Darwin's contributions to science were enormous, he published
29 books and at least 15,000 letters, filling at least 25 fat
volumes published by the University of Cambridge (the Darwin
Correspondence Project). His writings, including the personal
letters that truly reveal his character, are available free,
online from several sources: