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Lamark advocated a theory of evolution which included the idea that traits could be acquired and then passed along to offspring.
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The foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation today
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Identified the Wallace Line that divides the Indonesian archipelago into two distinct parts, one in which animals relate to those of Australia, and one in which the species are of Asian origin. He was considered the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species. Wallace was one of the leading evolutionary thinkers of the 19th century and made other contributions to the development of evolutionary theory besides being co-discoverer of natural selection
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Employed as ship's naturalist
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Haeckel was an influential zoologist whose work on evolution served to inspire some of the racist theories of the Nazis.
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They essentially summaraised Darwins on theories on evolution, thus inspiring him to publish his work sooner than he planned.
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All 1,250 copies of the first printing were sold out on the very first day.
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Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of the Church of England engaged in their famous debate on Darwin's theory of evolution.
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Dobzhansky's work was instrumental in spreading the idea that it is through mutations in genes that natural selection takes place.
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Later that year John Scopes would violate the law, leading to the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial.
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Gould's most significant contribution to science was the theory of punctuated equilibrium, which he developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972.[2] The theory proposes that most evolution is marked by long periods of evolutionary stability, which is punctuated by rare instances of branching evolution. The theory was contrasted against phyletic gradualism, the popular idea that evolutionary change is marked by a pattern of smooth and continuous change in the fossil record.
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It condemned ideologies which threatened Roman Catholic faith but allowed that evolution did not necesarily conflict with Christianity.
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1968
November 12:
The Supreme Court found that Arkansas' law prohibiting the teaching of evolution was unconstitutional because the motivation was based on a literal reading of Genesis, not science. -
A federal judge found that Arkansas' "balanced treatment" law mandating equal treatment of creation science with evolution was unconstitutional.
