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Transcript
www.fbbva.es
PRESS RELEASE
Peter Bowler opens the “Darwin and Wallace”
lecture cycle in the BBVA Foundation,
commemorating the first 150 years of
evolutionary theory
February 26, 2008.- Peter Bowler, Professor of History of Science at Queen’s
University in Belfast and a former President of the British Society for the History
of Science delivers the opening talk in the cycle “Darwin and Wallace. 150 Years
of Discovering Evolution” at the BBVA Foundation in Bilbao.
In this lecture series, organized jointly by the BBVA Foundation, CIC bioGUNE, the
Basque Regional Government, the Vizcaya Provincial Council and the British
Council, seven eminent international specialists will examine the modern scientific
legacy of the discoverers of evolution.
In his talk, Peter Bowler recounts how Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace
“discovered” evolution independently at practically the same moment, and how
the findings they laid before the Linnean Society of London on July 1, 1858, had
numerous similarities but also important differences.
Darwin and Wallace arrived at their theories through a shared interest in
geographical distribution and speciation, and started from premises based on
natural selection that would pave the way for the modern theory of evolution.
However, Wallace soon rejected the idea that natural selection could produce the
higher faculties of the human mind and in his last writings, published after
Darwin’s death, continued giving credit to some supernatural involvement in the
evolutionary process. There are also big differences in the way the two men
formulated the theory of natural selection: Wallace did not explore how selection
might act on individual variations nor did he draw comparisons with artificial
selection. In fact, he opposed Darwin’s view that a close parallel could be found
between the actions of animal breeders and natural selection.
THE THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION
Charles Darwin got the inspiration for his theories from a scientific expedition on
board the HMS Beagle. During the crossing, Darwin was able to observe the
diversity of flora and fauna present in different spots, leading him to conclude that
geographical separation and differences in environmental conditions were the
reason why populations varied independently of each other. His reading of An
Essay on the Principle of Population by British economist Thomas Malthus gave
Darwin the material he needed to complete his theory. According to Malthus, the
steady growth of the world’s population would result in a serious depletion of
natural resources and unleash a battle for survival that would end with the
triumph of the fittest.
From these ideas Darwin developed his theory of natural selection, which he
defined as a process in which environmental influences (scarcity of resources,
geological changes, the arrival of new species, etc.) lead to differing degrees of
reproductive success among the individuals of a population with different and
inheritable characteristics or traits. His contention was that all living beings have a
common ancestry and the different varieties and species found in nature are a
product of natural selection over time.
THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE
Darwin boarded the Beagle in Plymouth harbor on December 27, 1831 and
returned to England on October 2, 1836. This long journey took him to Tenerife,
the islands of Cape Verde, the Brazilian coast, Montevideo, Tierra del Fuego,
Buenos Aires, Chile, Peru, the Galapagos, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia,
Tasmania, the Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Mauritius, St. Helena, Ascension Island,
Brazil and the Azores; a round trip of 40,000 miles.
At the time he embarked, Darwin, like Lyell and his professors at Cambridge,
believed in the fixed nature of the species. But the studies he made on his journey
convinced him that Lyell was mistaken in his views on biological evolution. In
South America, he discovered fossil remains of glyptodonts and other edentates
similar to the modern-day armadillos and sloths of the same region, and deduced
that this resemblance was not a product of chance, but evidenced a family
relationship or filiation between the extinct and living animals. Darwin wrote that
this relationship was clearly apparent, as was the relationship between the fossils
of extinct marsupials in Australia and those existing there today. Another
important factor for the gestation of his theory was the observation in the
Galapagos Islands of unique animal and plant species like the giant tortoises and
finches. Darwin noted the similarity between the islands’ flora and fauna and that
of the nearest mainland, as well as the existence of different but related species
on different islands in the same chain.
Darwin expounded his theory in the book On the Origin of Species, published on
November 24, 1859. This was followed in 1871 by The Descent of Man, which
stirred up a great religious controversy. Born on February 12, 1809 – so next year
is his bicentenary – he died on April 19, 1882 at the age of 73.
For further information, contact the
BBVA Foundation Press Office (+34 91 537 6615 /+34 94 487 4627)
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