Prominent People in the History of Evolution
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)
Linnaeus was a Swedish physician and botanist who is regarded as the
father of taxonomy (the classification of organisms in categories based on
common characteristics). His system of classifying plants and animals
is still in use today. Linnaeus was a pious and Bible believing man
who sought to delineate the basic "kinds" set forth in Genesis as species.
He realized that variation can take place within a "kind" but not from one
"kind" to another.
His quest for order in the world of diversity was ad majorem Dei Gloriamm
"for the greater glory of God".
A century later Linnaeus' system would be used to argue for evolution.
(Morris 1982, 49), (Campbell 1990, 425)
Geoges Cuvier (1769 - 1832)
Another Bible believing scientist was Geoges Cuvier who was a great
French anatomist and considered to be one of the chief architects
of the science of paleontology.
He believed that different fossils in strata were due to catastrophes,
with the Flood being the last in a series.
He was a firm creationist and participated in (and won) debates in
creation vs evolution. (Morris 1982, 57,58), (Campbell 1990, 426,427)
Thomas Malthus (1766 - 1834)
Malthus believed that human suffering by war and famine were the
inevitable consequence of the population increasing much faster than
the supply of food. This concept was outlined in his classic work
"Essay on the Principle of Population" (1798).
Darwin's notions of the struggle for existence were influenced
by Malthus' work. (Campbell 1990, 431,432)
James Hutton
Hutton was a Scottish geologist who believed that the features of the
earth could be explained by slow processes over time - gradualism.
For example, canyons could be cut by rivers running down their lengths,
or sedimentary rocks with marine fossils were made from particles
that eroded from land and were carried by rivers into the sea.
Hutton was educated as an agriculturalist.
(Morris 1989, 161)(Campbell 1990, 427)
Charles Lyell (1797 - 1875)
Lyell carried Hutton's gradualism farther, into uniformitarianism,
the notion that geological processes are uniform through time.
For example, the processes that built mountains were balanced by
the erosion of mountains. Lyell was educated as a lawyer,
wrote "Principles of Geology" and had strong influence on Charles Darwin
by acting as a mentor of sorts.
Darwin remarked "I always feel as if my books came half out Lyell's brain,
and that I never acknowledge this sufficiently".
(Morris 1989, 167 quoting Himmelfarb), (Campbell 1990, 427)
Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829)
A significant figure on the road to evolution was the French botanist
Jean Baptiste Lamarck who held the position of curator of the
invertebrate collection at the natural history museum in Paris.
Instead of seeing life as a static ladder,
he viewed it more as an escalator.
On the bottom were microscopic organisms that were continually
being formed and driven by an innate tendency to greater complexity,
until finally complex plants and animals were at the top.
Lamarck believed that change in organisms was in response to sentiments
interieurs, or "felt needs".
Lamark is best known for two notions:
a) Use and disuse - Organs that are used increase in size and strength.
For example the biceps of a blacksmith would get larger and stronger
(legitimate) or by stretching for leaves a giraffe got a long neck (bogus).
Other examples are birds who lived in water got webbed feet,
moles became blind by living underground,
or rams got their horns by getting mad.
b) Acquired characteristics - Lamarck believed the changes acquired
in an organisms lifetime could be passed to the next generation.
By this reasoning, the long neck of the giraffe was the gradual result
of many generations of stretching and stretching.
Biology has disproved these notions, by experiments such as the
cutting off the tails of mice and noting there is no decrease in tail length
observed in offspring (Weismann's experiment in the year 1891),
or considering circumcision's effect over four thousand years.
(Campbell 1990, 427) (Taylor 1991, 45-48)
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