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DARWINIAN REVOLUTION
If internet is available you can visit these video links to answer the questions in the PRACTICE
section or you may consider visiting other sites.
A. TIMELINE OF HUMAN EVOLUTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSSzn4bIwZg
B. TIMELINE OF THEORIES ON EVOLUTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsKTmrs4DrU
C. COMPARISON OF LAMARCK AND DARWIN’S THEORY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p18uTZoBL_o
D. DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0B6os-6uuc
IF NOT AVAILABLE READ THE NOTES ATTACHED
NOTES: DARWINIAN REVOLUTION
a. TIMELINE OF HUMAN EVOLUTIONS
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Illustration 2
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b. TIMELINE OF THEORIES OF EVOLUTION
▪ Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Aristotle used the idea of embryological development to develop a "scale of nature," in
which he arranged the natural world on a ladder commencing with inanimate matter to
plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Among the vertebrates, he placed the fish at the
lowest rung of the ladder and humans on the highest rung. This "scale of
nature" represents a progression from the most imperfect to the most perfect.
▪ 1735 Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Swedish botanist, develops the modern hierarchical classification system a new naming
system. He published Systema Naturae, which includes the common modern naming
system of binomial nomenclature, or the naming of species with two names (i.e. Homo
sapiens, for humans).
▪ 1795 Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
Georges Cuvier, a highly respected French scientist, was born, He is known as the father
of Paleontology. This is the Birth of paleontology. He is also well known for his denial of
any sort of evolutionary theory, by his study of the fossil record. He draws attention to the
fact that the geological record is not a continuous one. He demonstrates the fact of
extinction with studies of fossil mammals, and believes the extinctions to have occurred in
a series of giant floods also known as Theory of Catastrophism.
▪ 1795 James Hutton
A Scottish scientist and physician, published a set of theories explaining the geology of the
Earth, among them the concept of geologic (or "deep") time, and that the Earth gradually
changes over time this is his Theory of Gradualism.
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▪ 1830 Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell publishes "Principles of Geology." This pushed a uniformitarian view of
geology, or the theory that forces in the past are the same as forces in the present, and
that we can use the forces present today to infer things about the past. This theory is
Theory of Uniformitarianism.
▪ 1809 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)
A French naturalist, published his theory of evolution. This is the First theory of evolution
ever published. His theory was that evolution occurred through the inheritance of acquired
characteristics, or the use/disuse theory. He proposed that while simple forms of life were
spontaneously generated, they were driven up a ladder of complexity over time. Use or
disuse of organs and traits cause changes which could be passed on to the next
generation.
▪ 1859 Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) published On the Origin of Species. In 1871 he published The
Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.
c. COMPARISON OF LAMARCK AND DARWIN’S THEORY
- Darwin and Lamarck were both scientists who tried to understand evolution.
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) and Charles Darwin (1809-1882) both thought and
had ideas about how life on earth got to be the way it is now. They had some similar and
some very different ideas.
- Unlike most other people at that time, Darwin and Lamarck both thought that life had
changed gradually over time and was still changing, that living things change to be
better suited and adapted to their environments, and that all organisms are related.
Darwin and Lamarck also agreed that life evolved from fewer, simpler organisms to
many, more complex organisms.
- Lamarck‘s theory of evolution was based around how organisms (e.g. animals, plants) change
during their lifetime, and then pass these changes onto their offspring. For example, Lamarck
believes that the giraffe had a long neck because its neck grew longer during its lifetime, as it
stretched to reach leaves in high-up trees, meaning that each generation of giraffe had a
longer neck than previous generations.
- Darwin‘s theory, known as natural selection, believed that organisms
possessed variation (each individual was slightly different from one another), and these
variations led to some being more likely to survive and reproduce than others. Features that
made an organism more likely to survive or reproduce are therefore more likely to appear to
each generation. In terms of the giraffe, Darwin‘s theory would state that longer necked
giraffes were more likely to survive, because they could eat leaves from taller trees, and
therefore more long-necked giraffes will be born, which eventually caused all giraffes to have
longer necks. Longer necked giraffes survived because they were a better fit for their
environment. It is from this idea that we get the phrase ‗survival of the fittest’.
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d. DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION
- Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) is credited with developing the theory of natural
selection, or "survival of the fittest". He is considered one of the greatest scientists of all
time, and has changed the way scientists think in biology and science in general.
- Most of Darwin's evidence and ideas for his theory of natural selection came from his
around-the-world trip on the sailing ship HMS Beagle. The expedition was arranged by
the British Royal Navy. Captain Robert Fitzroy asked Professor John Henslow, a
botanist with whom Darwin had become friends in Cambridge University, for a
recommendation of a naturalist for the trip. Henslow recommended Darwin.
- On December 27, 1831, Darwin left England for the first and last time on the ninety foot,
235 ton Beagle. During that five-year journey, from December 27, 1831 to October 2,
1836, Darwin drew and wrote about what he saw, sent many specimens back to
England, and developed ideas and questions about life that existed in the past and how
it changed to become the way it is now.
- Darwin‘s theory became accepted because it had more evidence that supported it. Lamarck‘s
theory suggest that all organisms become more complicated over time, and therefore doesn‘t
account for simple organisms, such as single-cell organisms. We also know
through observation that characteristics inherited during an individual‘s lifetime do not get
passed onto their offspring; for example, if someone pierces their ear, it doesn‘t mean that
their children will be born with pierced ears. Darwin‘s theory became even stronger when,
many years after his death, the study of genetics emerged.
- Genetics ultimately showed that all inherited traits were passed on through genes, which are
unaffected by outside world, as Lamarck would predict, and are instead naturally varied, as
Darwin predicted. Though Darwin didn‘t know what genes were, he could see their effect on
natural selection.
References:
https://extendedevolutionarysynthesis.com/resources/timeline-of-evolutionary-theory/
https://www.softschools.com/timelines/evolution_theory_timeline/98/
https://amazingdiscoveries.org/C-deception-evolution_Plato_Darwin
https://necsi.edu/evolution
https://www.mytutor.co.uk/answers/2529/GCSE/Biology/Explain-the-difference-between-Lamarck-s-and-
Darwin-s-theory-of-evolution-Why-was-Darwin-s-more-successful/
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