1. Of the five individuals listed I would argue that Charles Lyell had the most influenced over Darwin’s development of Natural Selection. Darwin’s idea that every adaptation for species survival were only passed on by random chance and over a uniform period of time was greatly inspired by the studies that Charles Lyell had already published.
2. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/02/4/l_024_01.html
According to PBS, Charles Lyell's book Principles of Geology was the most important science book of all time. If you think about it, his observations and ideas about the slow and uniform growth of mountains was what inspired Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution as also a slow and uniform process in species. If Charles Lyell's book inspired Charles Darwin to come up with his theory then it definitely earns its title as "the most important scientific book ever."
3. The bullet point that most fits Lyell's positive influence for Darwin's theory of evolution must be the one that says "Individuals do not evolve. Populations do." According to PBS, Darwin applied what he learned from Lyell's geologic studies and realized that, like the valleys and mountains of the earth's crust, species also either evolve gradually or die out gradually.
4. Darwin probably could have come up with his theory of natural selection all by himself but he would have had to study geology to the extent as Lyell did so that he could be able to imagine how long it actually takes for evolution to occur, like how mountains grow only 10 inches in a whole decade, it is hard to imagine without that kind of comparison.
5. Darwin was a faithful person but he was also a scientist compelled to find the truth about his origins. He must have felt pressured to break it gently to the religious folks (which was everybody) but he needed to publish his findings as truthful as possible anyway. The church in those times was completely unforgiving because they had so much power, and Darwin was one among a quite a few just trying to find the truth.
Quick correction:
ReplyDelete"Darwin’s idea that every adaptation for species survival were only passed on by random chance..."
Nope. The process of natural selection is not a random process. It is driven by the environment. The only part of evolution that is random is the process of mutation and they are finding that even that is not completely random. Some parts of our DNA are more prone to mutation than others.
The term "uniformitarianism" refers to the fact that the processes that are shaping the earth today (erosion, tectonic movement, freeze/thaw) are the same processes that shaped the earth from it's birth. That is the "uniform" part. Mountains and valleys and other geological structures are formed through these slow and gradual processes but their formation is, itself, not uniform. This same correction applies to natural selection. The forces are uniform in their duration over time, but their actions at one point in time are not uniform.
With regard to your bullet point, it is hard to choose a point that applies to Lyell since he didn't actually work with biological organisms and since he didn't support the concept of evolution, I can't make the connection with the bullet point you raise. He more likely contributed to the point on the influence of the environment. Ultimately, the greatest contribution Lyell may have made to Darwin was simply the gift of time. Prior to Lyell, it was generally accepted that the earth was only approximately 6000 years old (according to the bible). Well, this doesn't give natural selection, a very slow process, the time it needs to work. But Lyell demonstrated that the earth was at least millions (and we know it to be billions) of years old. This is just what Darwin needed to allow natural selection to produce not only all extant organisms but also all the extinct ones as well.
If Darwin would have had to have become an expert in geology in order to develop his theory without Lyell, it's probably safe to say that he wouldn't have developed his theory. ;-) I rarely like to give too much credit to any one scientist for his influence and importance over the success of another, but I am willing to make an exception in Lyell's case (Malthus is another I would consider an exception).
Love your final discussion. It helps me picture the conundrum Darwin must have experienced wanting to present this incredible idea to the world and yet worried as to it's reception.
Yeah, basically. :)
DeleteYeah, basically. :)
DeleteHello Nay,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post, but I have to agree with Professor Rodriguez, the survival traits were not pass at a random choice, it was the process of the natural selection, and the adaptation of the animals to their new environment and habitats that help to make the changes in the traits that were pass down.
I also am torn between whether Darwin could have come out with his theory all by himself, it seems that he had his ideas going back and forth for a long while, but the influence of all this men, he collected enough information to see that he was going in the right path. And with the little push he got, he finally made it public. Not necessarily getting the attention he must wanted at the beginning.
I do have to agree with you about how the church reacted to Darwin's theory. Back then it must have being seeing as a blasphemy because he was challenging what the bible and church had to say about how every human in the planet were created, and for him to present his idea of evolution, must have being something too surprising for them. Even now church reminds really private as to what they choose to accept about science.
I would disagree with some of the information you wrote in your blog. You put "If you think about it, his observations and ideas about the slow and uniform growth of mountains was what inspired Charles Darwin to develop his theory of evolution" i disagree with this because after some research and reading the chapter it says that Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin had been discussing this theory among each other with articles and that was what influenced Darwin to present his paper on the natural selection theory so with that said he had already thought of this theory. I'm not saying that Charles Lyell didn't have some type of influence but not completely as to say that he helped him develop it. I do also agree with Professor Rodriguez and Gaby Linares comment on the last point of your blog. It was really well explained because during that time everyone did give negative opinions towards Darwin's theory but like you stated in your blog "he was also a scientist compelled to find the truth about his origin" and took that risk to find the truth of the natural selection.
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