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[[Image:Originb.jpg|right|thumb|The first edition of ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'' published in London on November 24, 1859.|250px]]

[[Image:Originb.jpg|right|thumb|The first edition of ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection'' published in London on November 24, 1859.|250px]]

'''''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''''' is a book by [[Charles Darwin]] published in 1859. It introduced the world to [[evolution]] through a process of [[natural selection]]. The main thesis was that different animal species were not independently created, and that similar species can result from natural variation followed by different survivability rates. Animals that are more adapted to their environments are more likely to survive. Alfred Russel Wallace wrote a similar theory independently, and had sent a manuscript to Darwin. Darwin also used Herbert Spencer's phrase "survival of the fittest", but then fitness has to be defined as that which survives.

'''''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''''' is a book by [[Charles Darwin]] published in 1859. It introduced the world to [[evolution]] through a process of [[natural selection]]. The main thesis was that different animal species were not independently created, and that similar species can result from natural variation followed by different survivability rates. Animals that are more adapted to their environments are more likely to survive. Alfred Russel Wallace wrote a similar theory independently, and had sent a manuscript to Darwin. From the fifth edition, published in 1869, Darwin also used Herbert Spencer's phrase "survival of the fittest", where "fittest" pertains to its Victorian meaning: that which is most suitable.

Human evolution is conspicuously absent from Origin - knowing of the opposition such a suggestion would face, Darwin confined his initial speculation to nonhuman animals. He covered the topic of human evolution in a later work, ''[[The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex]]''.

Human evolution is conspicuously absent from Origin - knowing of the opposition such a suggestion would face, Darwin confined his initial speculation to nonhuman animals. He covered the topic of human evolution in a later work, ''[[The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex]]''.