Before Darwin Build Up to Evolution

The Scientists behind
Darwin

 In this presentation you will learn about the

main scientists that precede Darwin, but
facilitate his ability to discover one of the
most famous published works in Human
history:

 Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)

 Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

 James Hutton (1726-1797)

 Charles Lyell (1797-1875)

 Alfred Wallace (1823-1913)

Antonie van
Leeuwenhoek

 Invented the first microscope

 The first person to observe and begin to classify

the microbiological word.

 Named this organisms animacules

 Today we know them as:

 Bacteria

 Protists

 Algae

 Virus

 Fungi

 This was a fundamental step because future

scientists would be able to explore a world
which was previously unknown.

Carl Linnaeus

 Establishes the modern system in which all organisms

are classified. Taxomony

 Every species was given a Genus and Species

name.

 Binomial Nomenclature

 Organisms were classified based on their similar

characteristics and designated a Genus (upper-case)
and a Species (lower-case) taxonomic name

 White Rhino: Ceratotherium simun

 Saguaro Cactus: Carnegiea gigantea

 This system universalized the naming of all biodiversity

Chagos Clown Fish

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Actinopterygii

Order

Pomacentridae

Genus

Amphiprion

Species

chagosensis

James Hutton

 First Scientist to question the long-held belief that

the Earth was in fact ~6000 years old

Charles Lyell

 Uniformitarianism

 “The present is the key to the past”

 Deep Time

 Processes like erosion are shaping

the Earth over millions of years

 The Geological Time Scale

 Lyell’s work was given to Darwin

before his voyage and strongly
influenced his interpretation.

 When Darwin returned they would

become life-long friends.

Alfred Russell Wallace

 Father of Biogeography

 Interested in the geographic

distribution of species

 Worked in the Amazon Rainforest

 Worked in Indonesian Archipelago

 The Wallace Line

 Co-discovered Natural Selection

with Darwin (though 30 years later)

 Stimulates Darwin to publish his work

The Origin of Species (1859).