Scientists (Exam 1)

Question 1

Karl von Linne’:

Answer 1

Early 1700’s
Swedish
Diversity of life; taxonomic principles based on anatomical similarities of groups of organisms; the “species” concept

Question 2

Comte de Buffon:

Answer 2

Mid 1700’s
French
Species change from generation to generation by “degeneration” from their original perfect form.

Question 3

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck:

Answer 3

Late 1700’s
French
Species change from generation to generation by “adaptation”; inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Question 4

William Smith:

Answer 4

Early 1800’s
English
Biostratigraphy based on “faunal succession”; geologic map based on relative ages of rock units.
First geologic map of an entire country (Great Britain) based on relative ages of rock units, published in 1815.

Question 5

Charles Darwin:

Answer 5

Mid 1800’s
English
Species change via “natural selection”

Question 6

Gregor Mendel:

Answer 6

Late 1800’s
Austrian
Heredity based on inheritance of “genes”

Question 7

Hermann Muller:

Answer 7

Early 1900’s
German
Gene “mutations” caused by external agents (e.g., x-rays) as a mechanism for introducing new genetic diversity into the breeding population.

Question 8

James Watson & Francis Crick:

Answer 8

Mid 1900’s
American & English
Chemical structure of genes; DNA as the chemical basis of heredity.

Question 9

Niles Eldredge & Stephen Jay Gould:

Answer 9

American
Late 1900’s
Evolution proceeds by “punctuated equilibria”; non-uniform, spasmodic rates of evolutionary change.

Question 10

Nicolaus Steno, Niels Stensen:

Answer 10

Mid 1700’s
Danish
Foundations of physical stratigraphy based on detailed geologic field observations; established the principle of “superposition of strata.”

Question 11

James Hutton:

Answer 11

Late 1700’s
Scottish
Concept of uniformitarianism (“The present is the key to the past”, and “No vestige of a beginning - no prospect of an end.”)

Question 12

Georges Cuvier:

Answer 12

Early 1800’s
French
Concept of “comparative anatomy” to demonstrate relationships between various kinds of animals based on their physical characteristics; first geologic map of a major region (Paris Basin) based on fossil occurrences, published in 1811.

Question 13

Charles Lyell:

Answer 13

Early 1800’s
English
Major voice in the establishment of uniformitarianism as the foundation of historical geology; wrote the first widely selling geology textbook (“Principles of Geology”, 1830-1833) and founded one of the first major geology journals (Geological Magazine)

Question 14

Adam Sedgwick:

Answer 14

Early 1800’s
English
Established the Cambrian System of rocks & Cambrian Period of the geologic time scale based on physical & biostratigraphy in southern Britain.

Question 15

Roderick Murchison:

Answer 15

Early 1800’s
English
Established the Silurian System of rocks & Silurian Period of the geologic time scale based on physical & biostratigraphy in southern Britain

Question 16

James Hall:

Answer 16

Mid 1800’s
American
First state geologist in American (New York); directed the first biostratigraphic surveys & earliest geologic maps in eastern North America.