Evolution and Natural Selection - History of Ideas of Life on Earth (worksheet) Flashcards
What did most people believe in, in the 17th century?
Creationism.
Define creationism.
All life was created just as it is now.
Not based on any evidence, just belief.
What happened in the 18th century?
European naturalists began systematic classification systems and noticed that living things had similar characteristics appearing to be related.
In the 18th century what did the European naturalists do?
Travelled more widely and discovered more fossils.
Showing living things changed over time.
Extinction and selective breeding were addressed.
What do extinctions show?
Species aren’t fixed eg dodo.
Name species which selective breeding was used on?
Crops.
Working dogs.
What happened in the 19th century?
Lamark proposed a hypothesis that living things changed by inheriting acquired characteristics.
Give an example of Lamarks hypothesis?
Giraffes stretched their necks to reach food and their offspring inherited stretched necks.
Known to be wrong as acquired characteristics are not inherited.
What did Charlies Darwin do in the 19th century?
Published a book which proposed the idea of natural selection.
Better explanation for change in species.
Who else addressed a similar theory to Darwin’s?
Alfred Wallace.
What happened in the 20th century?
Mendel’s work on genetics was rediscovered and combined with Darwin’s theory to form modernism.
Give example what gave a body of evidence for Darwinism?
Fossil dating.
Molecular biology.
Microbiology.
