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Jan 1, 1475
Leonardo da Vinci studied seashells found in high mountain tops.
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Jan 1, 1511
People thought forms were immutable.
People think that their natural surroundings changed very little adn life forms were thought to be immutable. -
Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh
Highly regarded Irish scholar and theologian publishedd his calculations for the age of Earth based on astronomy, history, and biblical sources. Declared the earth was created on Sunday, October 23, 4004 B.C. -
Micholas Steno analyses fossils.
Nicholas Steno's detailed and impressive analyses of fossils clearly demonstrated that they were mineralized remains of living organisms. -
Baron Georges Cuvier begins palaeontology
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James Ussher of Armagh's notes published in a Bible.
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Comte Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon
-1788)
Suggested that similar organisms may have a common ancestor. -
Erasmus Darwin
-1802)
Proposed that all life may have a single source. -
Monet and Lamarck; environment affects evolution.
-1829)
Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck
Was the first scientist to recognize that the environment plays a key role in the evolution of species. He further postulated the theory of inheritance of acquired traits. -
James Hutton proposed actualism.
Scottish geologist James Hutton proposed a theory called actualism to contrast with Cuvier's catastrophism. -
Sir Charles Lyell proposed uniformiarianism.
Sir Charles Lyell revolutionalized geology with his principles of uniformitarianism. -
World agreed that Earth was very old.
Scientific community has accumulated sufficient evidence for general agreement that Earth was very old and life forms on Earth had undergone and continued to undergo changes. -
Sir Charles Lyell publishes Principles of Geology.
-Earth has been changing by the same processes in teh past as can be observed occuring in the present.
-Geological change is slow and gradual rather than sudden and catastrophic.
-Natual laws adn processes are constant and eternal, and they are operated with the same kind of intensity in the past as they do in the present. -
Europeans thought Archbishop's notes were part of real Bible.
Most Europeans mistakenly thought his chronology was part of the origional scripture. -
Scientists explain evolution.
Scientists formulate a viable explanation for the mechanism of evolution. -
Lord Wiliam Thomson Kelvin dates age of Earth.
Was the first to try to determine the age of Earth through rigorous mathematical and scientific calcuations. Assigned Earth an absolute age of 400 million years; later revised to 15-20 million years. -
Pierre Curie disvoeres radioactive decay
Radioactive decay produces heat suggested that radioactive decay within Earth was a major heat source, so Kelvin's model of a once-molten Earth simply cooling off was no longer considered valid. -
Big Bang Theory proposed
Georges Memaitre proposes the big bang theory.