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Period: Jan 1, 1543 to
charles darwin
a timeline of how charles darwin came up with his theory of evolution -
spontaneous generation
with advancements in magnifying tools, they concluded that fly maggots weren't spontaneous but their eggs were too small to see with the naked eye. -
Linnaeus's Systema Naturae charts life
linnaeus categorizes all types of life into the following categories: kingdoms, classes, orders, genera, and species. -
Comte de Buffon proposes radical ideas
he speculates that living creatures evolve according to natural laws. he even suggested that humans and apes are related and that all life has descended from a single ancestor however he had to abandon his ideas due to growing pressure from people saying that it goes against the narrative of moses. -
Erasmus Darwin's Zoonomia heralds evolution
charles darwins grandfather asks in one of his books, "would it be too bold to imagine.... that all warm blooded animals have arisenfrom one living fillament? -
charles darwin born
charles darwin was born during the war between england and france. the idea of revolution is linked to french radicals and revolutionaries. he decides to pursue his love for nature. -
Lamarck champions evolution
jean-baptiste de lamarck proposes that living things evolve to become more complex through time. he claims that acquired traits - developed through use or disuse are then passed on to future generations. -
Cuvier sees catastrophes in fossil record
the construction of mines and canals in the early 19th century unearths fossils of bizarre and extinct creatures. georges cuvier says that great floods and earthquakes wiped out certain life in the distant past. he thinks that modern species are too advanced to have evolved naturally. -
Lyell describes immense age of Earth
charles lyell argues that slow moving, gradual processes explain earths geology. -
Beagle voyage transforms Darwin
when charles darwin comes back from his five year trip, he is now in love with science and discovering nature.he returns with species and fossils from all over the world but mainly south america and the galapogas islands. -
Darwin starts secret notebooks
he sketches the tree of life and writes about how new species can evolve over time from a common ancestor. -
Anonymous pamphlet on evolution strikes fury
robert chambers publishs a book anonymously because of fear of attack. scientist started rallying against it. -
Was Neanderthal Man a son of Adam?
the discovery of a fossil skull in germany fuels a debate over wether all humans are direct descendants of adam and eve. the skull is very similar yet distinctly different. -
Wallace provokes Darwin to publish
alfred wallace comes up with the idea of natural selection and writes to darwin about it. this new competition provokes darwin to publish his findings before wallace. -
Flint tools spark debate over human evolution
the discovery of flint tools made at the same time period as the bones of extinct animals makes the possibility of evolution impossible to ignore. -
On the Origin of Species spurs a revolution
darwins book is influential and proposes a coherent theoryfor evolution. -
Evolution accepted
after 'on the origin of species' is published, evolution is mainstream science. everyone is starting to promote evolution -
Mendel's breakthroughs go unnoticed
gregor mendel publishes a paper detailing how traits are inherited through generations. he discovered the first instance of what we now know as genes. -
Fabulous fossils on display
people are hunting for fossils. dinosaurs like stegosaurs and triceratops make evolution a popular science -
Darwin explores The Descent of Man
darwins starts thinking about human evolution and how traits are passed down to generations through sexual selection -
Horse fossils reveal a story of evolution
they were talking to people about the evolution of horses and how horses evolved from a five toed creature. a few months later they found a fossil of such a creature. -
Social Darwinism stirs backlash
herbert spencer proclaims that struggles in human society leads to evolution. -
Radioactivity points to an ancient Earth
the discovery of radioactivity makes new techniques possible to show that the world is 4.3 billion years old which is more than enough time for darwins theory of evolution to take place. -
Mendel's laws of heredity rediscovered
mendel discovers that traits are passed down in discrete units (genes). -
Is Piltdown Man a "missing link"?
the fossil skull called piltdown man seems to be the missing link between humans and other primates. it was then revealed to be fake. -
Taungs "man-like ape" stirs fury
they announce that a "man like ape" has been found and it killed a babboon to eat its brains. -
Scopes trial puts controversy on center stage
they are trying to prosecute john scopes who is for evolution. they see it as a battle to uphold christianity -
Scopes trial becomes Scopes myth
they make a cartoon of the scopes trial -
Neo-Darwinism adds new facts to Darwin's theory
scientist now understand that genetic mutations can cause changes in the traits of organisms and that they are spread throughout a population by natural selection. -
DDT resistance is evidence of rapid evolution
a powerful insecticide spurs the evolution of insects resistant to the product. -
DNA puzzle solved
they discover the double helix structure of dna and how it works -
Can origins of life be glimpsed in a lab?
they produce amino acids in a lab and discover that first life on earth may have occured through natural processes. -
Inherit the Wind reinforces Scopes myth
george mccarthy attacks communists by comparingthem to the scoopes trial. -
A new view of humans and apes
they discover that humans and apes are strikingly similar