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Charles Darwin 1809-1882
With his book On the Origin of
Species by Means of Natural Selection, Charles Darwin put the entire world upside down.
For scientists, Darwin's work was absolutely stimulating.
For religious people —
formerly the crown of God's creation, now descendants of animals — not so much.
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Image
Above
Charles Darwin.
Library of
Congress. |
Darwin or Wallace?
Alfred Russel Wallace, who lived 1823–1913,
and Darwin developed
their theory of evolution by natural selection
independently from each other, but at the same
time.
In 1858, one year
before the publication of On the Origin of
Species, Darwin and Wallace together
published a paper on the subject.
Wallace is
credited as cofounder of natural selection.
What Is Natural Selection?
I
have called this principle, by which
each slight variation, if useful, is
preserved, by the term
Natural
Selection.
Origin of
Species, Chapter III
As opposed to artificial selection, in which
humans intervene to improve traits in animals or
plants by breeding.
What Is Evolution?
First off:
Evolution does not equal progress.
Evolution in
general is the process of evolving, in this case
the development of organisms caused by
mutation, natural selection, and migration
(genetic drift.)
By the way, it was
Swiss naturalist and philosopher
Charles Bonnet
who first used the term evolution in the context
of biology in 1762.
Interesting
tidbit:
in the first
edition of On the Origin of Species,
the term “evolution” never appears (though
the last word of the book is “evolved”); not
until the sixth edition does Darwin use
“evolution.”
Rather,
Darwin’s term of choice is “descent
with modification,” a simple
phrase that captures the essence of what
evolutionary biology is all about: the study
of the transformation of species through
time, including both changes that occur
within species, as well as the origin of new
species.
The Princeton
Guide to Evolution, 2014
What's the Difference between Evolution and
Natural Selection?
In a nutshell,
natural selection
is only one of
several evolutionary processes.
The Princeton
Guide to Evolution, 2014
How Do We Know About Evolution?
From the fossil
record, from observing evolution in real time,
and from studying genetics / DNA.
Darwin and Genetics
Unfortunately for
Darwin's eager mind, he didn't know anything
about Johann Gregor Mendel's pea research
and hybridization, which was
published in 1865 / 1866, but went unnoticed until
1900.
And here is a
Charles Darwin
timeline.
CHARLES DARWIN
1809 - 1882
Click photo to enlarge
The Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin - London 1859
Library of
Congress
Here you can
read the Origin of Species
online and free.
More History
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