Download Young Charles Darwin

Science and Charles Darwin
Ch. 16 Evolution
Targets:
• State Charles Darwin’s contributions to
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science.
Identify scientists influencing Darwin
and his Theory of Natural Selection
Explain the role of inherited variation
in artificial selection.
Explain natural selection using correct
terms
Describe what homologous structures
and embryology suggest about the
process of evolutionary change.
Explain how molecular evidence can be
used to trace the process of evolution.
Young Charles Darwin
• Born in 1809
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in Shrewbury, England
Studied medicine and
ministry in his twenties
His true interest was
nature
Encouraged by his
Cambridge professor to
take a job as a naturalist
• Darwin traveled on
the H.M.S. Beagle
working as a
naturalist for five
years
• He traveled along the
east and west coasts
of South America
• He studied differences
within the land and
collected fossils
Galapagos Islands
about 600 miles west of South America
• As a naturalist,
Darwin collected
specimens with great
care and interest
• As he traveled, Darwin noticed three distinctive
patterns of biological diversity:
1. Species vary globally
2. species vary locally
3. species vary over time
Darwin’s Finches
• While on the
Galapagos Islands
Darwin found 13
species of finches
• This lead to his idea
of descent from a
common ancestor
– The process of change over time is called
evolution.
– Darwin developed a scientific theory of
biological evolution that explains how modern
organisms evolved over long periods of time
through descent from common ancestors.
Darwin’s Theory of Natural
Selection
• Tendency towards overproduction
• Not all offspring survive
• Variations exist in any population
• Variations are inherited
• The best organism will live longer and
produce more offspring
• Populations change as it becomes better
adapted to it’s environment
Origin of Species by Natural
Selection
• Written in 1844
• Published in 1859
• Darwin continued throughout most of the
rest of his life to publish his research and
writings on biology.
• In his later years, Darwin was plagued by
fatigue and intestinal sickness, thought by
some historians to have been caused by
Chagas' disease, contracted during his
travels in South America.
Charles Darwin died on April 19,
1882, and lies buried in
Westminster Abbey.
Isn’t evolution just a theory?
In science, a theory is a rigorously tested statement of
general principles that explains observable and recorded
aspects of the world. A scientific theory therefore
describes a higher level of understanding that ties "facts"
together. A scientific theory stands until proven wrong -it is never proven correct. The Darwinian theory of
evolution has withstood the test of time and thousands
of scientific experiments; nothing has disproved it since
Darwin first proposed it more than 150 years ago.
Indeed, many scientific advances, in a range of scientific
disciplines including physics, geology, chemistry, and
molecular biology, have supported, refined, and
expanded evolutionary theory far beyond anything
Darwin could have imagined.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat01.html#Q01
Influential Scientists
• Darwin’s Cambridge Professor
• Charles Lyell, a contemporary geologist
- wrote Principles of Geology
• Jean Lamarck, proposed theory of
evolution in 1801
• Alfred Wallace, made similar observations
and conclusions about the process behind
evolution shortly before Darwin published
his book
How did Darwin influence other
scientists and does he still
influence scientists today?
Why is the theory of evolution
important to the study of biology?