Evolution

Events in the History of Evolutionary Thought

  • Linnaeus

    Linnaeus
    Linnaeus attempts to divide life into kingdoms, classes, orders, genera ,and species. He does not believe that different species are related to each other.
    (Main Event)
  • Paul Revere is born.

    Paul Revere is born.
    (Other Event in History)
  • Comte De Buffon

    Comte De Buffon
    Speculates that living creatures evolve according to natural laws. He believes apes and humans are related to each other.
    (influenced)
    (Main Event)
  • King Christian VII of Denmark is born

    King Christian VII of Denmark is born
    (Other event in History)
  • Zoonomia

    Zoonomia
    Charles Darwin's flamboyant grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, dared to ask if it would be so bold to think that all warm blooded mammals arose from a solitary filament.
    (Influenced)
    (Main Event)
  • Lamarck

    Lamarck
    He thought that living things evolve to become more complex thoroughout time. Vitaly forces within a creature help them adapt to their environments.
    (influenced) corrected and built upon the flawed theory.
    (Main Event)
  • Cuvier

    Cuvier
    Cuvier argued that a series of catastrophies wiped out certain life in the distant past. Does not believe in evolution but time stood still during disasters, instead.
    (Main Event)
  • Lyell

    Lyell
    Slow moving gradual processes explain earths geology. He, along with his mentor, said that there is no vestige of a beginning and no prospect of an end.
    (Main Event)
  • France captures Algeria

    France captures Algeria
    (other event in history)
  • HMS Beagle Voyage

    HMS Beagle Voyage
    Charles Darwin sets off on his major voyage. What initially started as a 2 year trip transformed into a 5 year journey for him. He returned home with brilliant and budding ideas about evolution.
    (influenced)
    (Main Event)
  • HMS Beagle Voyage

    HMS Beagle Voyage
    The 5 year voyage on the HMS Beagle comes to and end finally.
  • Lord Kelvin

    Lord Kelvin
    Kelvin states that Earth was created 20-400 million years agoand that it cooled from molten mass. He later asked whether it was enough time for organisms to evolve.
    (Main Event)
    (influenced)
  • USA declares war on Mexico

    USA declares war on Mexico
    (Other event in history)
  • Wallace

    Wallace
    Writes to Darwin seeking advice. Stating natural selection theory and core ideas were simlilar. Prompted Darwin to publish.
    (Main Event)
    (influenced)
  • Origin of Species

    Origin of Species
    A book written by Charles Darwin which contained a wealth of evidence and developed a coherent theory for evolution.
    He stated that domestic animals faced artificial selection
    whereas
    Wild animals face natural selection.
    (Main Event)
    (influenced)
    (influenced)
  • A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published

    A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens is published
    (Other events in history).
  • Mendel

    Mendel
    Mendel realizes traits are inherited through a new thing called "genes"; however, his discoveries go completely unnoticed for awhile.
    (Main Event)
    (Wish I Knew)
  • Abe Lincoln Assassinated!

    Abe Lincoln Assassinated!
    (other Event in history)
  • Descent of Man

    Descent of Man
    Darwin writes a new book describing sexcual selection, in which he writes about how individuals must become irresistable to each other in order for the species to reproduce and grow.
    (Main Event)
  • Horse Fossils

    Horse Fossils
    Thomas Huxley meets up with Othniel Charles Marsh to piece together fossils of horses from long ago to horses today. The ancestor of the horse is discovered, Eohippus.
    (Main Event)
    (influenced)
  • Telephone Invented

    Telephone Invented
    (Other Event In History)
  • Radioactivity

    Radioactivity
    Antoine Henri Becquerel discovers Radioactivity, which through rock dating helped him calculate approximately how old Earth actually was (4.3 Billion years old).
    (wish i knew)
    (Main Event)
  • First Olympic Games

    First Olympic Games
    (Other Event In History)
  • NeoDarwinism

    NeoDarwinism
    A new phiolosophy is fused from Darwin's ideas and principles on evolution from the 19th century and the modern ideas and concepts found in modern genetics. This new philosophy is known as NeoDarwinism.
    (Main Event)
  • DDT

    DDT
    DDT was a widely used substance during the 40s to eliminate mosquitos with malaria and other diseases that would effect crops and people. Soon mosquitos produced new offspring that could sustain life even though people used DDT on them. This heavily reinforced Darwin's evolutionary ideas.
    (wish i knew)
    (Main Event)
    (wish i knew)
  • World War II Ends

    World War II Ends
    (Other Events In History)
  • DNA

    DNA
    DNA was discovered in 1953 and helped explain evolution better by increasing our understanding of genes in general by showing us what they did and how they worked. It's considered to be the most prominent biological discovery of the 20th century.
    (wish i knew).
    (Main Event)
  • Humans & Apes

    Humans & Apes
    Mary-Clare King and Allen Wilson's discovery showed how closely related humans and apes are to each other. In fact, humans and apes have 98% of their genes in common.
    (Wish I knew)
    (Main Event)
  • DNA Codes

    DNA Codes
    New technologies allow scientists to see the change in genetic codes and sequences change over time easier.
    (wish i knew)
    (Main Event)
  • Human Genome

    Human Genome
    First Draft published that revealed the genetic relationship among humans to other species and completed genetic sequence within humans.
    (Main Event)
    However, the official project was not COMPLETED until 2003.
  • 9/11: The World Trade Center Towers are Bombed

    9/11: The World Trade Center Towers are Bombed
    (Other events in History)