On 24 November 1859 Charles Darwin published his influential research on evolution in his book The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Although in 1958 he had initially presented his findings in a joint paper with naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace, who had arrived at similar conclusions, he then published his book alone to precede a potential publication by Wallace.

According to historian Carolyn Burdett there is some discussion about the theory of evolution’s initial impact. But it was surprisingly quickly adopted into Victorian culture and made Darwin one of the most influential scientists of his time and a celebrity and revolutionized the academic discipline of biology and people’s thinking in general.

Sources & Further Reading:

Carolyn Burdett on the theory of evolution:
https://www.bl.uk/romantics-and-victorians/articles/darwin-and-the-theory-of-evolution
Brief summary of how Darwin arrived at his theory (5 minutes):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOk_0mUT_JU