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2001 BCE
Human Genome
The field of genomics gave scientists new tools for understanding how humans, along with all living things have evolved over billions of years. -
1990 BCE
DNA Codes
Evolutionary scientists see how the DNA of various organisms has changed through time as they evolved. -
1975 BCE
Sociobiology
Darwin uses the term "sociobiology" to describe the behaviour of all animals. -
1974 BCE
Lucy
Donald Johnson announces the find of a 4 million year old fossil that is a boon to the research of evolution. -
1955 BCE
Inherit the Wind
Meant to reinforce the Scopes myth of evolution. -
1953 BCE
DNA
The discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA unlocks the details of what genes are and how they work. -
1953 BCE
Origins of Life (Amino Acids)
Stanley Miller produces amino acids through an experiment, the key chemical building blocks of life. -
1940 BCE
Neo-Darwinism
Scientists now understand that random genetic mutations can cause changes in the traits of organisms. -
1925 BCE
"Man-Like Apes"
Raymond Dart announces a man-like ape found in limestone at Taungs, South Africa. There are many similarities between the skull of the ape and human. -
1900 BCE
Mendel Rediscovered
Darwin's contrary idea that all traits of parents are "blended" in their offspring are discovered to be his work. -
1896 BCE
Radioactivity
A physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel, discovers radioactivity, leading to stunning calculations of Earth's age. -
1876 BCE
Horse Fossils
Thomas Huxley and Othniel Charles Marsh piece together fossil of an ancient horse. They predict that a more ancient animal existed and was related to the present-day horses. -
1865 BCE
Mendell
Mendell realizes that many traits such as the seed color of peas, are passed down in pairs of units; these units are later called genes. -
1859 BCE
Origin of Species
Darwin introduces the idea of "natural selection" in the wild. In breeding, he refers to as "artificial selection". -
1837 BCE
Darwin's Secret Notebooks
One of Darwin's notebooks labeled "Transformation of Species" sketches his first "tree of life". -
1836 BCE
Beagle Voyage
After his trip, Darwin dedicates and devotes himself to a life in science, discovering nature's laws. -
1830 BCE
Lyell's Age of Eath
Charles Lyell helps further the idea that Earth and life on Earth spans over vast ages. -
1817 BCE
Cuvier's Fossil Records
Georges Cuvier was a French naturalist to explain how catastrophes in the past were shown in fossil records. -
1809 BCE
Darwin's Born
Charles Darwin's birth comes when Britain is at war with France and evolutionary is an idea linked to French radicals and revolutions. -
1809 BCE
Lamarck champions evolution
Jean Baptiste Lamarck was a French naturalist that proposed living things evolved to be more complex over time. -
1794 BCE
Erasmus Darwin's Zoonomia
Charles Darwin's grandfather proposes questions and encourages the rise to the research in evolution. -
1749 BCE
Comte de Buffon proposes radical ideas
Georges Louis Leclerc speculates that living creatures evolve according to natural laws. -
1735 BCE
Linnaeus's Systema Naturae
An attempt by Carl von Linne to classify all life on Earth. -
1660 BCE
Spontaneous Generation
It was when new instruments let us see if life can arise from nonliving matter. -
Period: 1543 BCE to 2002 BCE
Events in the History of Evolutionary Thought
