Chronology of Evolution Theory

Curriculum Outcomes Students will be expected to:

Describe historical and cultural contexts that have changed evolutionary concepts (316-1)

Describe the importance of peer review in the development of evolutionary knowledge (114-5)

Explain how knowledge of evolution evolves as new evidence comes to light and as laws and theories are tested and subsequently restricted, revised, or replaced (115-7)

Theories About the Origin of Life

Three possible ways that life could have come into existence:A. Random, natural unguided forces or

processesB. Designed and created by a designerC. Self-generation or ability to create,

inherent or designed into matter.

Judeo-Christian-Islamic Tradition

God created Earth and Heaven Separated light from dark/sea from sky Created plants and animals Created “mankind”

Scientific Perspective

Vulcanism of Earth’s crust created atmosphere and oceans

Producers then consumers developed through a set of random chemical interactions

Gradual, random change in genetic chemistry that improved survivability caused the evolution of organisms

Present universe created from “Big Bang”

Earth coalesced from projected material

HISTORY OF THEORIES ABOUT THE ORIGINS OF

LIFE

History of Biology/Evolution

Xenophanes(570-475 BCE)

Greek philosopher, poet, religious and social critic

Examined fossils

Plato (427-347 BCE)

Plato was a student of Socrates 345 B.P. Plato's Theory of Forms said

all life forms represent an imperfect replica of a perfect heavenly model.

Speusippus(408-339 BCE) wrote books on biological

classification before Aristotle

Leonardo da Vinci

He dissected hundreds of specimens and drew exact copies of them

(1452-1519) is known as an artist but was also an anatomist.

Conrad Gessner(1516-1565)

his three-volume Historia

Animalium is considered

the beginning of modern zoology

Archbishop James Ussher

Born January 4, 1581 Archbishop of Armagh 1650 - “Annales veteris

testamenti, a prima mundi origine deducti”

Creation on evening of October 23, 4004 BC

Died March 21, 1656

Marcello Malpighi

(1628-1694) was an Italian doctor, who gave his name to several physiological features.

He was pioneer in using a microscope and he has also been described as a founder of comparative physiology and microscopic anatomy.

Robert Hooke

(1635-1703) coined the

biological term “cell”

 

Comte de Buffon Born September 7, 1707 1750 - Histoire naturelle,

générale et particulière Living creatures evolve

according to natural laws Hypothesized that the

“creation of species” did not occur in one single place;

Suggests humans and apes related!!!

Died April 16, 1788

Pierre Louis de Maupertuis

French mathematician One of earliest scholars to

propose a rudimentary explanation of evolution

1751 wrote: “ the multiplication of species was a result of accidental recombination of elementary particles leading to offspring that differed from their ancestral forms.”

Carol Linnaeus Swedish botanist 1760 raised Buffon’s unorthodox

viewpoint Founder of binomial

nomenclature (system of naming organisms based on physical features)

His work of organizing the biological world into kingdoms, families, species, etc. is still being used today. Because of his work, scientists today can refer to an animal by a specific name and it is understood worldwide.

Erasmus Darwin Born December 12, 1731 Charles Darwin’s grandfather 1794 – Zoonomia -

attempted to explain organic life according to evolutionary principles.

First true ‘evolutionist’ “Would it be too bold to

imagine ... that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one-living filament?"

Died April 18, 1802

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) coined the

term “biology” and taught that evolution functions by inheritance of acquired characteristics

1809 - Philosophie Zoologique presented a comprehensive theory of transformism.

Charles Lyell 1830 First volume of Charles

Lyell's Principles of Geology interprets earth history as a process of gradual change.

Lyell felt that geological processes are so uniform that their rates and effects must balance out through time.

Processes that build mountains must eventually be balanced by the erosion of those mountains.

Charles Darwin Born February 12, 1809 Voyage on the HMS Beagle

(Dec., 1831 - Oct., 1836) Galapagos Islands –

Darwin’s finches 1859 - “On the Origin of

Species” Theory of Natural

Selection Died April 19, 1882

Alfred R. Wallace 1858 Alfred R. Wallace

proposed, in a letter to Charles Darwin, a theory of evolution by means of natural selection based on his work in Indonesia.

The two agreed to present their papers on the same occasion to the Linnean Society.

The Tipping Point

1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species; or, The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

Darwin’s Finches

Thomas Henry Huxley 1863 Thomas Henry

Huxley's Man's Place in Nature stressed the similarities between humans and apes.

1863 Lyell's Antiquity of Man popularized the belief that the human race is much older than allowed by the biblical time scale.

Spontaneous Generation

In the early 1600’s and before, it was believed that living organisms arose from the environment like dust and dirt

There were many attempts to disprove this theory, a feat successfully achieved by Louis Pasteur in 1864

Pasteur’s Experiment

Gregor Mendel Born July 22, 1822 1865- Suggests that traits are

passed on through generations Published the results of his

investigations of the inheritance of "factors" in pea plants.

Died January 6, 1884 Around the same time, scientists

start to accept Darwin’s theory of evolution

Antoine Henri Becquerel

Physicist credited with the discovery of radioactivity

1896 – Uses radioactive dating to show that the Earth is ~ 4.3 billion years old

G. H. Hardy and W. Weinberg

1908 - recognized that evolutionary change is not automatic, that it occurs only when something disturbs the genetic equilibrium.

Alfred Wegener

1912 - a geophysicist proposed the theory of continental drift and an earlier supercontinent called Pangaea, which split to form the current continents.

William Jennings Bryan

Born March 19, 1860 1920 – American politician

launches anti-evolution campaign

‘The Menace of Darwinism’ speech

1923 - Oklahoma & Florida pass laws banning teaching evolution

Died July 26, 1925

The Scopes Monkey Trial

After the Tennessee legislature passed its anti-evolution law in March 1925, the American Civil Liberties Union advertised for a test subject, and a Dayton teacher named John Scopes volunteered to be the defendant.

Scopes was a physics teacher who had occasionally taught biology as a substitute; he could not specifically remember mentioning evolution to his students, but he thought he probably had at some point.

A fellow opponent of the law from Dayton swore out the complaint against him.

Scopes

The legal issue was somewhat beside the point -- whether Scopes broke the anti-evolution law. The judge easily found that he did, and fined him $100.

The Scopes trial did not go beyond Tennessee but the evolution versus creation, science versus religion debate raged on.

Proof of Evolution’s Mechanism

1953 J. D. Watson and

F. H. C. Crick published the structure for

DNA in Nature.

Genesis Flood Published in 1961 Beginning of “young

earth creation” Suggests that the Earth

is not millions of years old, as evolutionists (and even most anti-evolutionists) believe

Supreme Court

1968 Susan Epperson vs. Arkansas Challenges Arkansas law banning

teaching of evolution in schools Supreme Court rules law unconstitutional,

essentially striking down all laws banning the teaching of evolution

The court ruled that evolution can be taught in public schools because it is a science, but not creationism, because it constitutes religion

Donald Johansson

1974 - Discovered fossilized human relative 4 million years old

Named it Lucy – Australopithecus afarensis

Ape sized brain, but walked upright

1990's The human genome project was begun.

Pope John Paul II

Born May 18, 1920 Real name: Karol Józef Wojtyła 1996 - Endorses evolution,

building on Pope Pius XII Accepts that scientific proof for

evolution can not be ignored Different fields, many

researchers Died April 2, 2005

“The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was

conducted independently is

in itself a significant

argument in favor of this

theory."

Vatican Astronomer Talks Science and Faith

– September, 2015

USA Evolution Challenges

1999 – Columbine School shootings prompt politicians to blame lack of morals in youth on teaching of evolution

2000 – Students at Jefferson High in Lafayette, Ind. Petition to have creation taught in biology classes

What do we know so far?

The Wall of Time The Big Bang Theory video clip What You Oughta Know Thinking Critically

Resource: Biologists