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Jan 4, 1581
James Ussher
James Ussher is born. By counting the generations of the Bible and adding them to modern history, he fixed the date of creation at October 23, 4004 B.C. During Ussher's lifetime, debate focused only on the details of his calculations rather than on the approach. Dr. Charles Lightfoot of Cambridge University in England had the last word. He proclaimed that the time of creation was 9:00 A.M. on October 23, 4004 B.C. -
Period: Jan 4, 1581 to
Theoretical evolutionary contributors
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Carolus Linnaeus
Carulos linnaeus is born. His most important contribution to science was his logical classification system for all living things which he proposed in his book Systema Naturae, first published in 1735. In this and subsequent works, he described plants and animals on the basis of physical appearance and method of reproduction. He classified them relative to each other according to the degree of their similarities. He used a binomial nomenclature in naming them. -
Comte de Buffon
The wealthy French mathematician and naturalist, Comte de Buffon is born. He actually said that living things do change through time. He speculated that this was somehow a result of influences from the environment or even chance. He believed that the earth must be much older than 6000 years. In 1774, in fact, he speculated that the earth must be at least 75,000 years old. He also suggested that humans and apes are related. Buffon was ca -
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin, the grandfather of Charles Darwin, was born today. Erasmus was an English country physician, poet, and amateur scientist. He believed that evolution has occurred in living things, including humans, but he only had rather fuzzy ideas about what might be responsible for this change. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Chevalier de Lamarck is born. He was the first evolutionist who confidently and very publicly stated his ideas about the processes leading to biological change. He was a French protégé of the Comte de Buffon. Unfortunately, his theory about these processes was incorrect. -
George Cuvier
George Cuvier is born. He advocated the theory of catastrophism click this icon to hear the preceding term pronounced, as did most other leading scientists of his day. This held that there have been violent and sudden natural catastrophes such as great floods and the rapid formation of major mountain chains. Plants and animals living in those parts of the world where such events occurred were often killed off according to Cuvier. Then new life forms moved in from other areas. -
Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell is born. He believed that there primarily have been slower, progressive changes. In his three volume Principles of Geology, Lyell documented the fact that the earth must be very old and that it has been subject to the same sort of natural processes in the past that operate today in shaping the land. These forces include erosion, earthquakes, glacial movements, volcanoes, and even the decomposition of plants and animals. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin is born. He is arguably the most famous contributor to modern evolution. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. -
Alfred Russel Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace is born. He was a British naturalist, explorer, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. He is best known for independently conceiving the theory of evolution through natural selection, which prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own ideas in On the Origin of Species.
