Development of Evolutionary Theory Flashcards
Who is Charles Darwin?
Nineteenth century, developed the Theory of Evolution by means of natural selection. All life on earth is related through common ancestry and the mechanisms for evolutionary change is natural selection.
What are the three principles of natural selection in On the Origin of Species?
- Variation
- Heritability
- Differential Reproductive Success
What were the common views before Darwin?
- The earth was young
- Species were divinely created
- Species were immutable
Who was Georges Cuvier?
Late 1700s - early 1800s, held the idea that things didn’t change except through great catastrophes. Proposed the idea of catastrophism.
What was James Hutton?
Mid 1700s, Scottish geologists. Dealt with geological strata, and the concept of uniformitarianism; the idea that changes of the earth happened over long periods of time through natural processes.
Who was John Frere?
Late 1700s, Englishman interested in the past who found tools beneath the bones of extinct animals.
Who CJ Thomsen?
Museum worker that proposed the three-age system. Stone age, bronze age, iron age. The start of a chronological era. Criticism that it was based off of European artifacts and promoted that there was a progression in technology that encompassed all cultures.
Who is Charles Lyell?
Early-mid 1800s geologist that expended the ideas of uniformitarianism by providing evidence for the antiquity of the earth.
Who was Robert Hooke?
Late 1600s, identified cells with a microscope and determined that fossil wood was once alive.
Who was Carolus Linnaeus?
1700s, created the classification system for naming and ranking organisms (taxonomy).
Who was Jean Baptiste Lamarck?
Late 1700s-early 1800s, developed the theory of acquired inheritance - things (evolved) changed over time. Giraffe.
Define Species.
A population that consists of organisms able to interbreed and produce fertile and viable offspring.
