chronology of evolution theory
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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) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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