Important people in Evolution

Charles Darwin

English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection

Carolus Linnaeus

(1707-1778) Founder of taxonomy, the branch of biology concerned with naming and classifying organisms. Developed two part system of naming organisms.

Georges Louis Leclerc de Buffon

proposed that species shared ancestors instead of arising separately

Erasmus Darwin

more-complex forms of life arose from less complex forms of life; thought all organisms arose from one common ancestor

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

inheritance of acquired characteristics; evolution moves towards perfection

Charles Lyell

developed the theory of uniformitarianism

Georges Cuvier

developed the theory of catastrophism

James Hutton

developed the theory of gradualism

Thomas Malthus

an English economist who argued that increases in population would outgrow increases in the means of subsistence (1766-1834)

Alfred Wallace

Naturalist who came to a similar conclusion as Darwin that natural selection could explain the origin of species, biological diversity, and similarities among related life forms.