Darwin was a superb scientist What traits did Darwin demonstrate that you would consider essential for a good scientist?

Answer 1

This sounds like someone's homework!

Darwin had several major characteristics that made him a good scientist:

He drew conclusions after collecting evidence
He collected evidence obsessively - as a youth he collected beetles, before publishing the Origin of the Species, he was well respected as a geologist and was considered a world authority on barnacles Part of the power of the Origin was that he presented such a wealth of supporting evidence.

It's always tempting to jump to conclusions, Darwin very rarely did that.

He wasn't obsessed with Being Right
Some great scientists (Newton comes to mind) were obsessed with being right all the time; Newton has a record of claiming that he had earlier found discoveries by other scientists - obviously this actually diminished Newton's legacy. Darwin would admit weaknesses in his theory - for example, one criticism was that "transitional" fossils (half bird and half reptile, for example) hadn't be found. Darwin didn't deny this as a problem but said that he expected that such fossils would be found. Archaeopteryx - exactly that kind of "transitional" fossil was discovered in 1861 - only two years after origin's publication.

He wrote with Clarity
The Origin is pretty much unique as a seminal work of science that the ordinary reader can understand. It's sadly a rare skill, but scientists that can write clearly are pearls beyond price.

He PublishedAlbeit reluctantly, he published what he knew would be a controversial book. Some scientists have been posthumously found to have discovered important scientific rules but didn't publish - which meant that the work couldn't be examined by peers and that the scientific world as a whole didn't know about the work.