01:119:115 Lecture 30: Darwinian Evolution
25 Feb 2016
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You have all of the life forms on earth-->arrange them. Led to natural theology: discover god"s plan by studying nature. Some began to question- age of earth, immutability of species. Some didn"t question, but their findings contributed to subsequent findings. Observation: fossils but are not the same as modern species. Theory states that at each change in rock layer catastrophic event occurs. Hutton- scottish farmer- observable processes produce small changes; accumulate over time. Contemporary of darwin, one of his most important influences. Late 1700s- evidence that earth that earth and species change over time. 2 ideas; use and disuse and inheritance of acqured traits. Wouldn"t have stretched neck; would have stayed the same size. Background- 22 years old, naturalist on hms beagle 1831-36. Measured shoreline and noticed it shifted 6 inches. No way catastrophic events are responsible for formations. Wrote other books (1 on barnacles for example) Developed a theory of evolution by natural selection.
