Charles Darwin, the father of modern biology, the man who killed god, my favorite atheist, the most important person in human history.

Mr. Darwin did not use this word to describe himself but obviously he became an atheist. And he most certainly knew his brilliant natural selection idea killed the ridiculous god fantasy.

Charles Darwin changed the world more than anyone else in human history.

Charles Darwin's Faith and Religious Beliefs


From the link what his future wife wrote:
"I must now tell you what I think of him, first premising that Eliz. thinks pretty nearly the same, as my opinion may not go for much with you. He is the most open, transparent man I ever saw, and every word expresses his real thoughts. He is particularly affectionate and very nice to his father and sisters, and perfectly sweet tempered, and possesses some minor qualities that add particularly to one's happiness, such as not being fastidious, and being humane to animals. We shall live in London, where he is fully occupied with being Secretary to the Geological Society and conducting a publication² upon the animals of Australia."

Darwin had all these good qualities which his wife perfectly described.

Darwin was very concerned about what the reaction to his On the Origin of Species would be. He compared it to confessing a murder. And this is why it took him several years before publishing his book. He wanted to first accumulate as much evidence as he could. He was finally motivated to publish it when he found out Wallace had the same ideas. 

He didn't get everything right but was totally right about his most important ideas, especially natural selection. Darwin, more than any other person who ever lived, changed the world. It's a world that is still changing because incredibly, 155 years after Origin of Species was published, there are still millions of people (mostly in backward countries like America and the Muslim theocracies) who want to throw out his lifetime of hard work.

"Darwin was the first to use data from nature to convince people that evolution is true, and his idea of natural selection was truly novel. It testifies to his genius that the concept of natural theology, accepted by most educated Westerners before 1859, was vanquished within only a few years by a single five-hundred-page book. On the Origin of Species turned the mysteries of life's diversity from mythology into genuine science."

-- Jerry Coyne