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Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was born. Lamark advocated a theory of evolution which included the idea that traits could be acquired and then passed along to offspring.
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Jean-Baptiste Lamarck died. Lamark advocated a theory of evolution which included the idea that traits could be acquired and then passed along to offspring.
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Employed as ship's naturalist, Charles Darwin left England aboard The Beagle.
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Ernst Haeckel was born in Potsdam, Germany. Haeckel was an influential zoologist whose work on evolution served to inspire some of the racist theories of the Nazis.
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The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, finally reaches Galapagos Islands.
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Darwin returned to England after a five-year voyage on the Beagle.
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Charles Darwin received a monograph from Alfred Russel Wallace which essentially summarized Darwin's own theories on evolution, thus inspiring him to publish his work sooner than he planned.
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John T. Scopes was born. Scopes became famous in a trial which challenged Tennessee's law against teaching evolution.
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Tennessee Governor Austin Peay signed into law a prohibition against the teaching of evolution in public schools. Later that year John Scopes would violate the law, leading to the infamous Scopes Monkey Trial.
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Stephen Jay Gould, American paleontologist, was born.
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Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Humani Generis, condemning ideologies which threatened Roman Catholic faith but allowing that evolution did not necessarily conflict with Christianity.
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The Supreme Court found that Arkansas' law prohibiting the teaching of evolution was unconstitutional because the motivation was based on a literal reading of Genesis, not science.
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A federal judge found that Arkansas' "balanced treatment" law mandating equal treatment of creation science with evolution was unconstitutional.
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In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court invalidated Louisiana's "Creationism Act" because it violated the Establishment Clause.
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Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that school boards have the right to prohibit teaching creationism because such lessons would constitute religious advocacy.