Transformations in Science and Society - Darwin

Question 1

What was Darwin’s contribution to science?

Answer 1

Overturned the biblical ideas of species as fixed (with Wallace’s help)
Provided evolutionary ideas for a whole range of disciplines
Made important contributions to the acceptance of uniformitarianism
Illustrated the value of deductive reasoning
Illustrated the value of experimental approaches in the science of nature

Question 2

What was Agassiz’s contribution to science?

Answer 2

Visited Chamonix in 1836 and developed ideas on the power of glaciers and the history of ice covering much of the northern hemisphere -> presented the theory that a great Ice Age had affected the earth
(Produced a scientific contradiction to the theological idea of the Flood as the major past shaper of the landscape)

Question 3

What was Suess’s contribution to science?

Answer 3

Hypothesized the former existence of Gondwanaland and Tethys Sea
Introduced the concept of the biosphere

Question 4

What were Marsh’s and Voeikov’s contributions to science?

Answer 4

Thought of as some of key founders of the conservation movement

• Human actions were damaging nature
• Humans often irrational in their treatment of the environment
• Voeikov believed that forests had a significant effect on climate