Transcript Ideas about Evolution

Early Ideas
about
Evolution
James Ussher
Archbishop of Ireland in the 17th century
► Used
generations in the bible to fix the date
of creation to 4004 B.C.
► Life was about 6000 years old
► Creationist
► God created an infinite & continuous series
of life forms
► All have remained unchanged since creation
Beliefs in the
th
18
century…
Before Darwin, two ideas about life on Earth
prevailed…
1. Species are fixed, or permanent. In other words,
they do not change.
2. Earth itself is less than 10,000 years old and also
relatively unchanging.
These ideas were challenged as people became
aware of the incredible diversity of organisms,
past and present, and the nature of Earth's
geologic processes.
Karl Linneaus
Swedish botanist in the 18th century
► Precise
descriptions of nature
► Purpose – to reveal the unchanging order of life
created by God
► Problem: Noticed that hybrids could be created
► Designed a logical classification system
George Leclerc
French zoologist in the late 18th century
► Living
things change through time
► Earth must be at least 75,000 years old
► Species could NOT evolve into other species
Erasmus Darwin
English physician / amateur scientist in the late 18th century
► Evolution
has occurred in living things
► Humans evolved
Jean Lamarck
French biologist in the 19th century
► New
idea on how evolution occurs.
► Simple organisms spontaneously arise and
inevitably develop into more complex forms
► Evolution due to the inheritance of acquired
characteristics… individuals acquire traits in
their lifetimes as a result of experience or
behavior, then pass on these traits.
Jean Lamarck
► Create
your own example of Lamarkian
evolution.
George Cuvier
French anatomist in the early 19th century
Reconstructed the appearance of unique
organisms from fossil bones.
1.
2.
3.
Some organisms from the past different
greatly from any living species
Fossils in deeper layers of rock were
increasing different from living species
Some organisms had become extinct
George Cuvier
French anatomist in the early 19th century
Idea of CATASTROPHISM >> sudden geologic
catastrophes caused the extinction of large
groups of organisms at certain points in
the past.
Contributed to scientific acceptance that
geologic change and extinction had
occurred.
Charles Lyell
English geologist in the 19th century
► Uniformintarianism
= slower, progressive
changes
► Geologic processes that have changed the
shape of Earth’s surface in the past continue
to work in the same ways
► Evidence from geology would contribute to
Darwin’s conclusions
Charles Darwin
Naturalist in the 19th century
► Voyage
to collect plants and animals
► Came up with evolution through natural
selection based on his observations