Q 01/05

In which town was Charles Darwin born?

A) Shrewsbury

B) Chester

C) Lichfield

D) Worcester

Answer · why

A) Shrewsbury

Shrewsbury: at school there, his home chemistry experiments earned him the nickname 'Gas' and a public rebuke from the headmaster.

Q 02/05

Both of Darwin's grandfathers were prominent campaigners for what?

A) Parliamentary reform

B) Free trade

C) Abolition of slavery

D) Catholic emancipation

Answer · why

C) Abolition of slavery

Abolition of slavery: at Bahia in Brazil, Darwin argued with his captain, who defended slavery, and was briefly banished from the captain's table.

Q 03/05

Darwin's grandfather Erasmus anticipated ideas of evolution and common descent in which 1794 work?

A) Systema Naturae

B) Zoonomia

C) Philosophie Zoologique

D) The Temple of Nature

Answer · why

B) Zoonomia

Zoonomia: this medical treatise suggested all warm-blooded animals may have arisen from 'one living filament'; Charles said it had no effect on him, y...

Q 04/05

Where did Darwin first go to university, to study medicine?

A) Glasgow

B) Oxford

C) London

D) Edinburgh

Answer · why

D) Edinburgh

Edinburgh: he rushed out of the only two operations he watched, in the days before anaesthetics, and neglected medicine for natural history.

Q 05/05

Which skill did the young Darwin learn from John Edmonstone, who had travelled with explorer Charles Waterton?

A) Taxidermy

B) Navigation

C) Surveying

D) Botanical drawing

Answer · why

A) Taxidermy

Taxidermy: Darwin wrote home that lessons cost a guinea for an hour every day for two months, and he often lingered to talk with his teacher.