Scientists contribution to the different theories that led to Darwin's theory of evolution.

By aleyea

  • Carolus Linnaeus comes up with a system to group organisms

    Carolus Linneaus came up with the system to group organisms by their similarities. The system is based on similarities. This system is still being used by scientists.

  • George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon

    He was a french naturalist who proposed that species shared ancestors. He influenced Charles Lyell.

  • James Hutton

    He proposed that the changes he observed in land forms resulted over a long period of time. This principle is known as gradualism. He influenced Charles Lyell. Lyell expanded on James Hutton's theory.

  • Erasmus Darwin

    He was a doctor and poet. Dawrin also proposed that all living things came from one common ancestor. He helped influence his views on evolution and natural selection.

  • Thomas Malthus

    He came up with the principle of population. The principle of population is called Malthusianism that population growth will always out grow the food supply and the human race needs a limit on reproduction.

  • Jean-Baptise Lamarck

    Lamarck proposed that all organisms evolved toward perfection and complexity. He also proposed that the environment can cause behavioral changes to an organism. He changed the way people thought about how environmental changes caused organisms to change and that they can pass that change to their offspring. He changed the belief that god created distinct organism traits and that environment can cause change in an organism. He directly influenced Darwin.

  • George Cuvier

    He was a french zoologist that believed that species could not change but become extinct. Cuvier studied fossils and found the differences between the crust, this is mentioned in his theory of catastrophism. He believed that the appearance of new species in each rock layer were made form species moving into the area because of a catastrophic event. He influenced the scientific community because his theories prove that species evolve.

  • Charles Lyell

    He was a geologist that expanded on the theory of gradualism into the theory of uniformitariansim. This theory says the the geologic processes shape earth and are uniform throughout time. He influenced Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin took Lyell's book with him on his trip on the Beagle. Hutton and Lyell's findings have both occurred very constantly throughout time.

  • Alfred Russel Wallace

    Alfred Russel Wallace developed a theory very that was about the same thing as Darwin's theory. Both of their works were presented to a group of scientists in London. He influenced Darwin and his published findings.

  • Charles Darwin

    Dawrin made an infamous trip to the Galapagos islands and this led to the discovery of evolution. The findings from his trip supported Lyell's theory. Darwin also came up with evolutionary gradualism which is the idea of earth evolving and its organisms. Darwin influenced the way scientists overall think about evolution because prior to his discovery there was not a clear theory.

  • Ernst Haeckel

    Haeckel was influenced by Darwin's theory. He stated that the stages of development found in vertebrate embryos reflected evolution. He came up with the term recapitulation theory which is known as ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny. Haeckel's influenced science because his drawings appeared in textbooks and were used. However, Haeckel was accused of fraud and his findings are currently not recognized by many scientists.

  • E.J. Steele

    E. J. Steele came up with a hypothesis to explain the Lamarckian evolution. He influenced the scientific world because he used Lamarck's theory and provided evidence in support of it.