Evolution Timeline

Aristotle

384 BCE

Aristotle was a teacher born in ancient Greece. He studied at the Platonic Academy and ranked animals putting humans at the top. He laid the foundations for the idea of evolution. Link text

Carolus Linnaeus

May 23, 1707

Born in Sweden, Linnaeus studied at Lund University and Uppsala University. He became a physician, botanist, and a teacher. He started the study of the evolution of plants. Link text
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Georges-Louis Leclerc

Sep 7, 1707

From Montbard, France, Leclerc study at the University of Angers and University of Burgundy. He wrote the Histoire Naturelle. He thought that apes and humans have the same background and provided many of the basics for Darwin's thoughts, Link text
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James Hutton

Jun 3, 1726

Born in the UK and studying at the University of Edinburgh James Hutton was a Plutonist. This led Hutton to develop the theory of uniformitarianism which said the Earth's processes are the same now as they always have been. Link text
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Erasmus Darwin

Dec 12, 1731

Erasmus Darwin was from the UK he studied at the University of Edinburgh to be a physician. He believed that organisms are shaped by their environment and the environment is shaped by organisms. He contributed a lot to Darwin's theory by studying anatomy. Link text
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Jean-Baptiste de Lemarck

Aug 1, 1744

Born in France Jean-Baptiste de Lemarck was a soldier and botanist. He realised from fossils of animals that they must've changed over time to adapt to the environment. He set the stage for Darwin's theory of evolution. Link text
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Thomas Malthus

Feb 13, 1766

Thomas Malthus was from Westcott, UK. He studied at the University of Cambridge and was an economist, scientist, demographer, and mathematician. Charles Darwin was inspired by Malthus's work on population growth. Link text
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Georges Cuvier

Aug 23, 1769

Born in France, Cuvier studied fossils and archaeology and was appointed the inspector general of France by Napoleon. Cuvier classified all living organisms into 4 different categories. Link text
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Richard Owen

1804

Owen was man from England who studied animals and anatomy. He went to Barclay School for his education. He was an expert on anatomy and Darwin attended his lectures. Link text
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Charles Darwin

Feb 12, 1809

Darwin was born in Kent in the UK. He attended college at Cambridge and Edinburgh. He was a biologist, a writer, and a geologist. He came up with the theory of evolution (with Alfred Russel Wallace). Link text
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Alfred Russel Wallace

Jan 8, 1823

Alfred Russel Wallace was from Dorset, England. He went to college at the Birkbeck University of London. He later became a partner to Darwin in studying evolution. Link text
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