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John Ray
John Ray is the first person to suggest that humans could be related to other animals but his ideas were very controversial at the time because because some thought that he was labeling man as just another animal. -
Period: to
History Of Evolution
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Pierre Louis Maupertuis
Pierre releases "Systeme de la Nature" in which he states his opinions about how new species come into being. He thought that change from one species to another happened by random chance because little if anything was known about genetics and heredity at this time. -
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus presents a system in whiched he showed the similarities between different plants and in which he classified the plants into different organisms showing that they all appear to be very closely related. -
Charles Bonnet
Charles Bonnet claimed that evoltutionary changes happened due to natural disasters. He also belived in a "biological ladder of life". Charles belived that insects were involving into mammals, mammals were evolving into humans, and that humans were evolving into angels. -
Comte de Buffon
Comte de Buffon brings up his idea that all things in nature change over time and that it was impossible for the earth to be only 6000 years old but instead thought the earth to be about 75,000 years old to allow time for change and evolution. He carefully hid and lined out his ideas in his 44 volume book called "Histoire Naturelle" to avoid public criticism. -
James Hutton
James Hutton publishes his book, "Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution, and Restoration of Land upon the Globe" and proposed his theory that the earth has not and will not always be the same and that earth is always evolving. -
Boucher de Perthes
Boucher's hobby was collecting old stones and old tools made of stone. He stumbled across many tools buried alongside bones and therefore concluded that they were from the same time period. He stated that there must have been earlier human-like forms before us, but his idea was immediately rejected by all of the major scientis and major science journals of the time. He theory was later accepted by supporters of evolution. -
"The Loves Of The Plants"
Erasmus Darwin first expresses his ideas of evolution in a poem entitled 'The Loves Of The Plants" in which he tells the story of a group of plants evolving over time. -
Charles Babbage
Charles Babbage used diagrams and hands-on presentations to show that all things in nature follow certain laws and that evolution couldn't have happened by chance, but that it had to be a mechanical process following these laws. -
Erasmus Publishes
Erasmus Darwin publishes "Zoonomia; or, the Laws of Organic Life", a collection of poems in which he outlines his ideas of evolution and his theory that earth must have been in existence for millions of years before man appeared. -
Thomas Robert Malthus
Thomas Robert Malthus releases the first edition his book, "An Essay on the Principle of Population" in which he explains that more humans are born every year than can survive, supporting Darwin's idea of natural selction and "survival of the fittest". -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Publishes
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck publishes his book, "Recherches sur l'Organisation des Corps Vivants" in which he expresses his ideas on biological evolution. -
Jean Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Agassiz was a swiss born geologist who tried to create a theory denying creation by God. He believed that the earth had experienced a world-wide ice age which helped "evolve the earth", but after consulting with Darwin and reading his book, changed his mind and became one of the biggest opponents of evolution in the 1800's. -
John Chapman
John Chapman purchases "The Westminster Review". He bought the paper to create a journal for supporters of evoltioun to freely state their ideas. -
Alfred Wallace
Alfred begins having similar ideas to those of Darwin and begins researching fossils in southeast asia. Alfred co-published his ideas of natural selction with Charles Darwin in the late 19th century. -
Gregor Mendel
Gregor begins his college education at The University of Olomouc Faculty of Philosophy and begins researching how plants and sheeps pass down their traits from one generation to the next. Gregor's findings were later used to help explain mutations in genetics. -
George Mivart
George Mivart was a close friend of Darwin's during his publishing of "The Origin Of Species". George agreed with the ideas of evoltioun, but due to his catholic upbringing, was torn between evoltioun and God, so he decided that one could believe in both, -
Georges Cuvier
Georges Cuvier releases his most famous work, "The Animal Kingdom" and states that extinction occurs because certain creatures do not adapt and therefore usually die off. -
Charles Lyell
One of evolutions most prominent supporters, Charles Lyell, dies while revising the twelfth edition of his book, "Principles". -
Raymond Dart
Raymond Dart, an australian anthropologist, discovers a fossil named australopithecus africanus, an early humaniod that appeared to be very closely related to humans.
