Erasmus Darwin
- Born: December 12th, 1731
- english physician
- natural philosopher
- physiologist
- slave-trade abolitionist
- inventor
- believed this would damage his reputation as a doctor
- Some of the items he invented: windmill, carriage, copying machine, and more
- made a sketch of a simple hydrogen-oxygen rocket engine
- was a poet
- youngest child out of seven children
- parents: Robert Darwin of Elston and Elizabeth Hill
- founding member of lunar society of birmingham
- believed that organisms evolved over time, including man, but didn't know how
- anticipated "three great objects of desire" for every organism: "lust, hunger, and security"
- idea that "the strongest and most active animal should propagate the species, which should thence become improved" was almost identical to the future theory of survival of the fittest
- did not widely spread his ideas but profoundly influenced his grandson Charles
- Died: April 18th, 1802 at the age of 70