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Period: 322 to
Aristotle
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Period: 347 to 427
Plato
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427
Plato
- Theory of Forms
- Belived there were two worlds ( Material and Eternal)
- Believed organisms were already adapted perfectly to their environment
- All life forms were perfect heavenly models that existed in the eternal world
- Based his theories off of the world he saw around him
- His theories were not accurate and therfore did not influence darwin's theories
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Period: 427 to
History of Evolution
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Period: to
Linnaeus
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Period: to
Hutton
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Period: to
Hutton
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Period: to
Malthus
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Period: to
Cuvier
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Carolus Linnaeus
- Grouped species into heigharchies instead of their own levels
- Created the binomial system
- believed species did not evolve
- he was the first scientist to come up with the theory that species were related to each other
- He was able to provide more evidence to prove his theories
- difinatley had an impact on Darwin's theory because he came up with the idea that some species were related
- Theories before his helped him come up with new theories
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James Hutton
- Believed that instead of the earth being shaped by catastrophes, rather it under went processes like erosion and sedimentation
- This process was called uniformitarianism
- Helped Darwin prove his theories because he came up with the idea that the earth under went slow procces to make evolutionary changes
- Earlier scientists helped Hutton discover his theories and understandings of different processes
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Period: to
Lyell
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Period: to
Darwin
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Alfred Wallace
- Believed that the most suitable organisms would survive and reproduce to be able to pass it on to their offspring
- Scientists did not like Wallace after he bacame very spiritual
- He pretty well started the idea that became Darwin's way of thinking (Natural Selection)
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Period: to
Wallace
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Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
- Collected many organisms
- Was the first scientist to come up with the idea that environments changed and along with that, organisms also had to change so they could survive
- 2 Ideas for this reasoning: Use and Disuse Inheritance of Aquired Characteristics
- He helped Darwin tremendously because he started the theory that species have to evolve in order to survive and that the changes they undergo are passed down to offspring
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Georges Cuvier
- He was the first to prove that extinctions really do occur
- Another scientist that believed organisms did not evolve throughout their lifetime
- Believed that the only way to wipe out a species was in the from of a catastrophy, this theory was known as catastophism
- Helped Darwin because he came up with the theory that species can become extinct
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Thomas Malthus
- Believed that populations were producing too many offspring and enabling the amount of resources available
- Belived the force such as famine, poverty and disease were created by god to eliminate some populations
- His theory helped Darwin because it is actually what made Darwin come up with his theory of Natural Selection
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Charles Lyell
- Believed that the earth also under went slow changes and over long periods of time to make distinct changes
- Did not aprove of the theory of catastrophism
- He influnced Darwin because after he proved his theories Darwin then assumed the same processes had to apply to life
- At this point in history there was evidence before Lyell's time that helped him prove or discover theories
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Charles Darwin
- Collected many organisms
- Observed that organisms around the word were different but in some ways had similar characteristics (noticed especially with the finches)
- In 1859 he published The Origin of Species 2 Ideas:
- Decent with modification
- Natural Selection
- Earlier scientist's helped Darwin to finally discover how evolution really works
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Aristotle
- Studied the relationship of living things and came up with the idea of classification and that every living thing was to be placed in it's own category, except each level was taken by one organism and couldnt be shared.
- believed species to be perfect when born and therefore would not evolve.
- He had no tools or technology to prove his theories it was all based off of observations.
- He had a slight influence in Darwin's theory because of his idea that organisms are classified into levels
