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Charles Darwin
Darwin himself initially planned to follow a medical career, and studied at Edinburgh University but later switched to divinity at Cambridge. In 1831, he joined a five year scientific expedition on the survey ship HMS Beagle.
Darwin worked on his theory for 20 years. After learning that another naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, had developed similar ideas, the two made a joint announcement of their discovery in 1858. In 1859 he published 'On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection' -
A. Wallace
Wallace's independent discovery and publication of evolutionary theory in 1858 is fully equal to Darwin's. Yet as a self-educated product of the working-class, he never found acceptance with the social elite. His greatest work was published in 1903, when he was 80, and today is almost entirely forgotten. Man's Place in the Universe: A Study of the Results of Scientific Research in Relation to the Unity or Plurality of Worlds is a visionary book. -
J. Huxley
He was particularly interested in concepts of evolution and growth, dealing with them in the light of the philosophic problems generated by contemporary scientific developments. In his Religion Without Revelation (1927; revised edition 1957), he suggested that human could find an outlet for their religious zeal in contemplation of their own destiny, rather than in theistic creeds. In Evolution: The Modern Synthesis (1942), Huxley made important connections between evolution and genetics. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Lamarck's scientific theories were largely ignored or attacked during his lifetime; Lamarck never won the acceptance and esteem of his colleagues Buffon and Cuvier, and he died in poverty and obscurity. Today, the name of Lamarck is associated merely with a discredited theory of heredity, the "inheritance of acquired traits." However, Charles Darwin, Lyell, Haeckel, and other early evolutionists acknowledged him as a great zoologist and as a forerunner of evolution.
