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Zeno of Citium (BC)
Zeno of Citium agreed with the theories suggested by Aristotle and other earlier philosophers, which was that nature exhibited evidence that the features of existing organisms were designed for a purpose, establishing that organisms were designed with characteristics to help them survive in their environment. -
Jan 1, 610
Anaximander of Miletus (BC)
Anaximander offered the theory that the first land animals originated from water, and were all water creatures. He argued that the first land-dwelling creatures must have been born in water, and proposed that the first born human must have been born as the child of a different animal. -
Erasmus Darwin
Erasmus Darwin came up with the theory that all organisms must have descended from one original ancestor, likely to be a single micro-organism, suggesting that these micro-organisms most likely adapted and changed to create the existing species. Darwin published ‘The Origin of Society’ in 1803. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck proposed that species were never fixed and unchanging, but were constantly changing and being altered according to their environment, which gave a reasonable clarification of how and why organisms were adapted to their environment. Lamarck published ‘Philosophie Zoologique’ (Zoological Philosophical Work) in 1809. -
Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell proposed that the evolution of all the existing species could not have occurred throughout only a few thousand years, then suggesting that the Earth must be much more than only a few thousand years old. Lyell published his book ‘Principles of Geology’ in 1830. -
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin proposed that evolution and change among organisms was the result of environmental pressures, causing the natural selection of a specific beneficial trait which was occasionally produced by genetic mutations in an individual organism of a species. He claimed that these useful traits eventually spread throughout a species, changing and improving the adaptability of the species. Darwin published ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859. -
Alfred Wallace
Alfred Wallace came up with a similar theory of evolution to Charles Darwin, where organisms and their characteristics adapted and changed through genetic mutations in order to become more suited to the environment that they live in. Wallace published his book, ‘Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection’ in 1870. -
Motoo Kimura
Motoo Kimura offered the neutral theory of molecular evolution, where he suggested that many genetic changes are neutral, where the genetic code would mutate and change permanently, without an environmental pressure of selection (which is generally referred to as ‘genetic drifting’). Kimura published ‘The Neutral Theory of Molecular Evolution’ in 1983. -
Empedocles (BC)
Empedocles claimed that the current existing species at the time were all produced from mixbreeding of past, older species, which cause the creation a new hybrid species, such as a liger and mule. -
Aristotle (BC)
Aristotle believed that all the features of current existing organisms had been designed specifically for a purpose, which contributed to the theory of evolution by adding in the idea that all living species had particular features allowing them to be more adapted to their environment and surroundings.