The History of the Science of Evolution

By Heaven
  • Period: to

    Timespan

  • John Ray

    Speculated that the earth must be at least 75,000 years old. Humans and apes are related.

  • Carolous Linnaeus

    systema. Nature which classified 4,000 species of animals % 7,700 species of plants.

  • James Hutton

    Found that rocks changed over time

  • Charles Lynell

    Principles of Geology, first prominent scientist to support "The Orgin of Species"

  • Alfred Russel Wallace

    Independntly proposing a theory of evolution due to natural selection

  • Gregor Mendal

    Units of ingerutance provided mechanism that explain how traits were conserved & passed from one generation to another

  • Hugo de Vries

    Mainly known for the Mutation Theroy, Which he discoverd new forms to the plant of the Evening Primerose. he took seeds and crossed them, found they produced many new kinds. introduced the word of mutation. Rediscovered the Laws of Geredity in the 1890s was unaware Mendal had already discovered it.

  • William Bateson

    Found the disipline of genetics. Was the very first person to use the word genetics

  • GH HArdy and W. Weinberg

    Created a theory to tell if evolution has happened with 5 steps.
    1.No mutations must occur so that new alleles do not enter the population.
    2.No gene flow can occur (no migration of individuals into, or out of, the population).
    3.Random mating must occur (individuals must pair by chance)
    4.The population must be large so that no genetic drift (random chance) can cause the allele frequencies to change.
    5.No selection can occur so that certain alleles are not selected for, or against.

  • Theodosius Dobzhansky

    Developed the modern Evolutionary Synthesis . Pulling from both Mendals and Darwins Theory

  • Ernst Mayr

    Proposed that when a population of organisms becomes seperated by time or geography, they eventually evolve different traits & can no longer interbreed

  • George Simpson

    founder of the "Modern Synthesis" idivided evolutionary change into tempo the right of change.

  • G. Ledyard Stebbins

    apperance of his magnum opus "Variation and Evolution in Plants"

  • Watson & Crick

    Created the Structure of DNA (the Double Helix).

  • Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould

    Came up with the theory of punctuated equilibrium.
    Punctuated equilibrium is a refinement to evolutionary theory. It describes patterns of descent taking place in "fits and starts" separated by long periods of stability.

  • Alfred Wegener

    Helped found the modern Science of biology ; the study of how species are scattered across the planet & how they got that way

  • JBS Haldane

    Supported Darwin,

  • Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

    theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics, called soft inheritance