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a timeline of how charles darwin came up with his theory of evolution
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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.
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linnaeus categorizes all types of life into the following categories: kingdoms, classes, orders, genera, and species.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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charles lyell argues that slow moving, gradual processes explain earths geology.
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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.
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he sketches the tree of life and writes about how new species can evolve over time from a common ancestor.
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robert chambers publishs a book anonymously because of fear of attack. scientist started rallying against it.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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darwins book is influential and proposes a coherent theoryfor evolution.
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after 'on the origin of species' is published, evolution is mainstream science. everyone is starting to promote evolution
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gregor mendel publishes a paper detailing how traits are inherited through generations. he discovered the first instance of what we now know as genes.
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people are hunting for fossils. dinosaurs like stegosaurs and triceratops make evolution a popular science
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darwins starts thinking about human evolution and how traits are passed down to generations through sexual selection
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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.
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herbert spencer proclaims that struggles in human society leads to evolution.
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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.
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mendel discovers that traits are passed down in discrete units (genes).
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the fossil skull called piltdown man seems to be the missing link between humans and other primates. it was then revealed to be fake.
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they announce that a "man like ape" has been found and it killed a babboon to eat its brains.
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they are trying to prosecute john scopes who is for evolution. they see it as a battle to uphold christianity
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they make a cartoon of the scopes trial
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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.
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a powerful insecticide spurs the evolution of insects resistant to the product.
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they discover the double helix structure of dna and how it works
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they produce amino acids in a lab and discover that first life on earth may have occured through natural processes.
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george mccarthy attacks communists by comparingthem to the scoopes trial.
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they discover that humans and apes are strikingly similar