Human Evolution - Precursor to Evolution Scientists

John Ray

proposed the concept of species, recognized that groups of plants & animals could be differentiated by their ability to mate w/ one another & produce fertile offspring.

Carolus Linnaeus

developed a method of classifying plants & animals, standardized the use of genus & species terminology, established the system of binomial nomenclature, added Class & Order, and included humans in the classification.

Comte George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon

first published the idea that regions have unique plants & animals.

Erasmus Darwin

in a poem, expressed the view that life had originated from the sea, and all species descended from a common ancestor.

Lamarck

attempted to explain the evolutionary process, suggested that a changed external environment would change an animal's activity, proposed the theory of acquired characteristics (use-disuse theory), and called the term biology.

George Cuvier

proposed Catastrophism, suggesting that regional disasters destroyed local life, which was then restocked by new, similar life forms migrating from unaffected regions.

Thomas Malthus

pointed out that there is a tendency for animal populations to increase in size, while the amount of resources remains relatively the same, leading to constant competition.

Charles Lyell

founder of modern geology, argued for uniformitarianism, that the geological process we see today are the same as those that existed in the past.