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Contributions to Evolution
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John Ray
John Ray was an English naturalist and botanist born November 29th, 1627. He was the first scientist to perform empirical studies, as he first made observations and carried out experiments to develop ideas and hypotheses about the natural world.
In 1682, he published Methodus Plantarum Nova, his own contribution to the progression of taxonomy. He came up with a classification that was based on structural characteristics, as well as internal anatomy. -
Carolus Linnaeus
Carolus Linnaeus was a Swedish naturalist and explorer born May 23rd, 1707. He was the first to outline several guidelines for defining natural genera and species of organisms, and the first to create a system for naming these species (binomial nomenclature)
In 1735, he published his book, Systema Naturae (“The System of Nature”) that described a hierarchical classification, or taxonomy, of stones, plants, and animals. These kingdoms were subdivided into classes, orders, genera, species, and -
Carolus Linnaeus Continued
varieties. This form of taxonomy has been successful throughout the field of biology. In the botanic section of his book, he states his idea that all organisms reproduce sexually, therefore believes that each plant must possess male and female sexual organs. Thus, his creation of a simple system to classify plants based on unique characteristics. -
Carolus Linnaeus
In 1736, Carolus Linnaeus published a booklet, the Fundamenta Botanica (“The Foundations of Botany”), that outlined guidelines to be followed when classifying and naming plants. -
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon
Buffon was a French naturalist born September 7th, 1707. He was one of the first people to challenge the idea that all life forms never change
In 1749, he published 36-volume Histoire naturelle, a first attempt to organize all existing knowledge in the fields of natural history, geology, and anthropology. -
Georges-Louis Leclerc Continued
In one of his writings, he suggested that species do in fact change over time. He realized that there were several similarities between humans and apes, and theorized that they might have a common ancestor. -
Carolus Linnaeus
In 1758, Carolus Linnaeus published his 10th edition of Systema Naturae that outlined the rules of nomenclature that he developed -
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin was a British physician, poet, and botanist born December 12th, 1731. He was inspired to improve society through science, industry, education, and politics
In 1794, he published Zoonomia (“The Laws of Organic Life”) whose main purpose was to classify facts about animals, establish laws to describe organic life, and to organize diseases and their treatments. -
Erasmus Darwin Continued
In his book, he suggested the idea that “all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament”, and imagined that these animals continuously improve and pass down their “improvements” to the next generation. -
Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier was aFrench zoologist born August 23, 1769. He was well known for developing the science of paleontology, the study of ancient life by observing fossils.
In 1800, he published "Lecons d’anatomie compare" (“Lessons on Comparative Anatomy”) that explained his idea of “correlation of parts.” He believed that the structure of an organ is functionally related to all the other organs in the body, and the characteristics of organs evolve from their interaction with the environment. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Continued
Consequently, Lamarck believed that animals obtained new habits as a result of environmental influences and that these habits caused animals to use some organs more than others. New traits are then passed on to the next generation. Essentially, Lamarck theorizes that small changes that occur over a long period of time allow species to change. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was a French biologist born August 1st, 1744. His main contribution to the theory of evolution was his idea that traits or characters are inheritable
In 1809, he published Philosophie zoologique, where he explains his idea that the simplest form of a plant or animal came from a spontaneous generation (non-living matter). He also theorized that forms of life become more diverse as they are modified by the effects of the environment. -
Georges Cuvier
In 1812,he published "Recherches sur les ossements fossils de quadrupedes" (“Researhes on the Bones of Fossil Vertebrates”) where he explained his conclusions after discovering fossils of unknown species. This proved and brought forward new evidence that there had been species that became extinct. -
Mary Anning
Mary Anning was an English fossil hunter and amateur anatomist born May 21st, 1799. She was known for her discovery of dinosaur samples that helped with the development of paleontology. She was respectable in the scientific world and successful, since it was difficult for a young woman to thrive in a field dominated by males.
In 1824, she made an important and famous discovery of the Plesiosaurus skeleton, an aquatic reptile. -
Georges Cuvier
In 1825, he published Discours sur les revolutions de la surface du globe (“Discourse on the Revolutions of the Globe”) where he introduced catastrophism, the idea that a number of different species died due to past destructive and natural events the Earth experience, like floods and volcanic eruptions. He further theorized that because these catastrophic events occurred in a particular region, it allowed species around the area to repopulate. -
Georges Cuvier Continued
This is how he explained why some fossils of species that no longer existed appeared. -
Mary Anning
In 1829, she dug up the skeleton Squaloraja, a fossil fish that was thought to be a member of the transition group between sharks and rays.
She often sold her fossils to paleontologists, collectors, and tourists, and eventually, the scientific community realized the significance of the fossils she discovered. -
Charles Lyell Continued
these processes occur slowly over time. This statement soon became modified to uniformitarianism, the idea that all geological processes happen at the same rates as they did before. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was an English naturalist born Febuary 12th, 1809. His theory of evolution by natural selection became an essential factor in evolutionary studies. He tried to explain the causes of extinction, and saw life as a branching tree.
In 1830, Darwin proposed the idea that species remain adapted until something happens in the environment that causes it to change. -
Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell was a Scottist geologist born Nov 14th, 1797. His main contribution to evolution was his idea that all the features of the Earth’s surface are produced by physical, chemical, and biological processes over a long period of time.
In 1830, he ublished his book Principles of Geology that reflects the work of James Hutton, stating that the natural processes that occur today are no different in kind or magnitude than the natural processes that occurred in the past, as -
Gregor Mendel
Gregor Mendel was an Austrian botanist and teacher born July 22nd, 1822. He was the first to develop the foundation of the science of genetics
In 1854, he conducted his studies on peas, choosing seven traits like plant height and seed colour to study the transmission of characters. He later found that one trait was dominant and the other was rescessive, in other words, tall crossed with short, dark crossed with light. He predicted that these traits can be transmitted. -
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace was a British humanist, naturalist, geographer, and social critic born Jan 8th, 1823
In 1855, he published an article that presented his idea that “every species has come into existence coincident both in space and time with a pre-existing closely allied species.” He then later proposed the theory that new species come from their parent species who continuously progress and achieve variety through the struggle for survival. -
Hugo de Vries
Hugo de Vries was a dutch botanist and geneticist born Febuary 16th, 1848. He introduced the study of organic evolution and was well known for rediscovering the principles of heredity based off of Gregor Mendel’s work.
In 1901, he summarized his research into the nature of mutations in "die Mutationstheorie", where he explained some laws of heredity. He contributed his idea that osmosis played an important role in plant physiology. -
William Bateson
William Bateson was an English biologist born August 8th, 1861. He was known for naming the science of genetics and conducted experiments that proved the basic foundation of heredity.
In 1905, Bateson published a number of breeding experiments that showed that species pass down some features to their offspring, and that these features were constantly inherited. His experiences also showed that certain characteristics depend on two or more genes. -
Ernst Mayr
Ernst Mayr was a German American biologist born July 5th, 1904. He was well known for his work in taxonomy, population genetics, and evolution. He was considered one of the world’s leading evolutionary biologists.
In 1942, he wrote "Systematics and the Origin of Species", where he outlined his theory based on the idea that one species separates into daughter species. -
Ernst Mayr Continued
His theory included the biological processes of gene mutation and recombination, the structures and functions of chromosomes, reproductive isolation, and natural selection. He later named 25 new species of birds and 410 subspecies. -
Lynn Margulis Continued
once came from free-living bacterial species. She later added on to her theory and believed that eukaryotic cytoplasm came from a beneficial relationship between eubacteria and archaebacteria. -
Lynn Margulis
Lynn Margulis was an American biologist born March 5th, 1938. She developed a serial endosymbiotic theory (SET) of eukaryotic cell development that entirely changed the ideas of how life came to be on Earth. The serial endosymbiotic theory was a theory she developed which stated that eukaryotic cells evolved from bacteria that contain no nucleus.
In 1970, she published her first book, Origin of Eukaryotic Cells, where she outlined and explained her theory that mitochondria and chloroplasts -
References
John Ray. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/492392/John-Ray
Georges-Louis Leclerc, count de Buffon. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/83673/Georges-Louis-Leclerc-count-de-Buffon
Mary Anning. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/853031/Mary-Anning -
References
Sir Charles Lyell, Baronet. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/352672/Sir-Charles-Lyell-Baronet/4378/Scientific-eminence
Lynn Margulis. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/364780/Lynn-Margulis
William Bateson. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/55866/William-Bateson -
References
Hugo de Vries. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/633337/Hugo-de-Vries
Ernst Mayr. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/371097/Ernst-Mayr
Gregor Mendel. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/374739/Gregor-Mendel/4791/Experimental-period -
References
Georges, Baron Cuvier. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/147625/Georges-Baron-Cuvier
Alfred Russel Wallace. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/634738/Alfred-Russel-Wallace/93553/The-career-of-a-naturalist
Charles Darwin. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151902/Charles-Darwin/225885/On-the-Origin- -
References
Carolus Linnaeus. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 8, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/342526/Carolus-Linnaeus/273185/Other-contributions
Erasmus Darwin. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/151960/Erasmus-Darwin
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. In Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved April 9, 2013, from http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/328430/Jean-Baptiste-Lamarck
