Evolution Timeline

By Sean
  • 384 BCE

    Aristotle

    Aristotle
    Aristotle was a teacher born in ancient Greece. He studied at the Platonic Academy and ranked animals putting humans at the top. He laid the foundations for the idea of evolution. Link text

  • Carolus Linnaeus

    Carolus Linnaeus
    Born in Sweden, Linnaeus studied at Lund University and Uppsala University. He became a physician, botanist, and a teacher. He started the study of the evolution of plants. Link text
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  • Georges-Louis Leclerc

    Georges-Louis Leclerc
    From Montbard, France, Leclerc study at the University of Angers and University of Burgundy. He wrote the Histoire Naturelle. He thought that apes and humans have the same background and provided many of the basics for Darwin's thoughts, Link text
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  • James Hutton

    James Hutton
    Born in the UK and studying at the University of Edinburgh James Hutton was a Plutonist. This led Hutton to develop the theory of uniformitarianism which said the Earth's processes are the same now as they always have been. Link text
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  • Erasmus Darwin

    Erasmus Darwin
    Erasmus Darwin was from the UK he studied at the University of Edinburgh to be a physician. He believed that organisms are shaped by their environment and the environment is shaped by organisms. He contributed a lot to Darwin's theory by studying anatomy. Link text
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  • Jean-Baptiste de Lemarck

    Jean-Baptiste de Lemarck
    Born in France Jean-Baptiste de Lemarck was a soldier and botanist. He realised from fossils of animals that they must've changed over time to adapt to the environment. He set the stage for Darwin's theory of evolution. Link text
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  • Thomas Malthus

    Thomas Malthus
    Thomas Malthus was from Westcott, UK. He studied at the University of Cambridge and was an economist, scientist, demographer, and mathematician. Charles Darwin was inspired by Malthus's work on population growth. Link text
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  • Georges Cuvier

    Georges Cuvier
    Born in France, Cuvier studied fossils and archaeology and was appointed the inspector general of France by Napoleon. Cuvier classified all living organisms into 4 different categories. Link text
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  • Richard Owen

    Richard Owen
    Owen was man from England who studied animals and anatomy. He went to Barclay School for his education. He was an expert on anatomy and Darwin attended his lectures. Link text
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  • Charles Darwin

    Charles Darwin
    Darwin was born in Kent in the UK. He attended college at Cambridge and Edinburgh. He was a biologist, a writer, and a geologist. He came up with the theory of evolution (with Alfred Russel Wallace). Link text
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  • Alfred Russel Wallace

    Alfred Russel Wallace
    Alfred Russel Wallace was from Dorset, England. He went to college at the Birkbeck University of London. He later became a partner to Darwin in studying evolution. Link text
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