Theory of Evolution

400BC

Jan 1, 1000

Plato & Aristotle
World is perfect and unchanging

Comte de Buffon

Jan 1, 1750

-Publicly challanged the idea that life forms were unchanging
-Noticed similaritites between humans and apes
-Suggested that bthe Earth is older than 6000 years

Georges Cuvier

Jan 1, 1800

-French naturalist
-Studied paleontology
-named natural events such as volcanic eruptions "revolutions"
-searched for fossils in layered rock

Charles Lyell

Jan 1, 1825

-Rejected the ideas of revolution
-Suggested that geological processes work nat the same rates in the past as they do today
-Changes are slow and gradual
-Earth is older than 6000 years old
-Slow and subtle processes occur over a long period of time

Jean- Baptiste Lamarck

Jan 1, 1827

-Studied the changes in species over time
-Invented the "line of descent"
-Thought body cell could be passed on
-All was rejected

Charles Darwin

Jan 1, 1831

-Sailed on the HMS Beagle from England
-Wanted to map South America's coast
-Invented the Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
-Studied the evidence of evolution

Cell and Biogenetics

Jan 1, 1900