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1204
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī
Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī developed a theory of evolution in which organisms gain differences through adapting to their environments. He also suggested that organisms who gain beneficial new features/traits quicker have advantages over others and are more variable. (Not an exact date; Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī was born in 1204 and died in 1274, but there was never a specific date in which he developed this theory.) -
Georges Buffon
Georges Buffon, a French naturalist, anticipates the idea that the world is constantly changing in which species change over time; he did, however, rejects the idea that this change could lead to new species. -
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
James Burnett, Lord Monboddo suggested the idea that creatures can transform their characteristics in response to the environment over long time intervals; he also suggested that humans descended from primates. -
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin proposed that all warm-blooded animals arose and differentiated from a single form. He also predicted/anticipated the idea of natural selection. -
First theory of evolution published
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a French naturalist, printed his theory of evolution. He proposed that simple forms of life were spontaneously generated and were driven up a ladder of complexity over time. -
Robert Edmond Grant and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire
Both Robert Edmond Grant, a British anatomist, and zoologist, and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, a French naturalist, further developed the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Erasmus Darwin to propose that plants and animals had a common evolutionary starting point. -
The Beagle Voyage
Charles Darwin Began his voyage in Devonport, England, and ended 5 years later. During the five years, he and his crew observed many organisms and species. In the Galapagos Islands, Darwin found various species of Finches; this helped him solidify the idea of natural selection. -
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, a British Naturalist, conceptualizes the theory of evolution by natural selection and co-publishes with Darwin on the subject. -
On The Origin of Species
Charles Darwin publishes On The Origin of Species; in the book, he proposed that species evolve and that all living things can trace their descent to a common ancestor. -
Heredity Experimentation
Gregor Mendel, a biologist, experimented with pea plants allowing him to understand the means by which traits are inherited between parent and offspring. His pea plant(s) theory was printed, which made the background for the basis of natural selection. -
Ernst Haeckel
Ernst Haeckel, a German zoologist, and naturalist applied evolutionary theories to embryology, the study of embryos and their development, and provided early foundations for the field of evolutionary developmental biology. -
James Mark Baldwin
James Mark Baldwin proposed the idea that adaptation can arise from plasticity without invoking inheritance acquired characters in the book "A New Factor in Evolution," which was a concept later known as the Baldwin Effect. -
William Hamilton
William Hamilton, a British Naturalist publishes his papers introducing inclusive fitness theory. Inclusive fitness is an idea in which an organism’s genetic success is believed to be derived from cooperation and altruistic behavior. -
Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist
Charles Sibley and Jon Ahlquist demonstrated that chimpanzees are actually more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas. -
Mary Jane West-Eberhard
Mary Jane West-Eberhard, an American biologist, published "Developmental Plasticity and Evolution." The book mainly focuses on the role of environmentally generated variation in evolution and speciation.
