Origin of Species
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Although Darwin started thinking about he mechanism of Natural Selection quite soon after his return from the HMS Beagle, it took him 20 years before he actually published his idea in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
Darwin hold back with his ideas for so long because he knew quite well that parts would immediately be highly criticized. The section Some Problems summarizes the main objections against Darwin's theory which he himself was very much aware of.
In April 1856 Darwin invited a selected group of some very important scientists to his house in order to present his theory of Natural Selection. One could say he wanted to test the scientist community and see how they reacted to his ideas. Most of them were indeed highly impressed by what Darwin postulated. The very same year then, the geologist and and friend of Darwin, Charles Lyell, received a paper from the evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, in which he proposed a theory which was quite similar to the one of Darwin. As a consequence, Lyell urged Darwin to publish his theory about Natural Selection and Darwin actually started working on an essay which turned out to become a proper book of several volumes. In June 1858, Darwin himself received a paper of Wallace mentioning terms like “struggle for existence”. As nobody wanted to seem to steal the other's idea, Wallace and Darwin decided to present their ideas together: papers of Darwin and Wallace were read at a meeting of the Linnean Society in London in July 1858.
The paper which Darwin had started to write and which had turned out to become a proper book, namely Origin of Species, was finished one year later and the first edition was for pubic sale on November 24, 1859. Darwin later added and modified some parts so that he, as a whole, published six editions. As a matter of fact, Origin of Species is still today considered as one of the most important contributions to evolutionary biology.
Darwin hold back with his ideas for so long because he knew quite well that parts would immediately be highly criticized. The section Some Problems summarizes the main objections against Darwin's theory which he himself was very much aware of.
In April 1856 Darwin invited a selected group of some very important scientists to his house in order to present his theory of Natural Selection. One could say he wanted to test the scientist community and see how they reacted to his ideas. Most of them were indeed highly impressed by what Darwin postulated. The very same year then, the geologist and and friend of Darwin, Charles Lyell, received a paper from the evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, in which he proposed a theory which was quite similar to the one of Darwin. As a consequence, Lyell urged Darwin to publish his theory about Natural Selection and Darwin actually started working on an essay which turned out to become a proper book of several volumes. In June 1858, Darwin himself received a paper of Wallace mentioning terms like “struggle for existence”. As nobody wanted to seem to steal the other's idea, Wallace and Darwin decided to present their ideas together: papers of Darwin and Wallace were read at a meeting of the Linnean Society in London in July 1858.
The paper which Darwin had started to write and which had turned out to become a proper book, namely Origin of Species, was finished one year later and the first edition was for pubic sale on November 24, 1859. Darwin later added and modified some parts so that he, as a whole, published six editions. As a matter of fact, Origin of Species is still today considered as one of the most important contributions to evolutionary biology.
Darwin's Tree of Life
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An important part of Darwin's idea was to visualize the origin of species as a phylogenetic tree rather than chain as evolutionary biologists before Darwin had done it.
With this kind of visual presentation, Darwin tried to emphasize that evolution is a completely random process without knowing what would be the end-result. This means that, if evolution of life on earth started all over again, the result would probably be a completely different one.
The idea of a chain, though, postulated that evolution was a continuous progress of growing complexity with the human at the top and the end-result.
Still today, the most prevalent method of demonstrating evolutionary relationships is in the form of phylogenetic trees, even if slightly modified.
However, as already mentioned before, Darwin had to face much criticism concerning his postulates, from which the important ones are presented in the next section Some Problems.
With this kind of visual presentation, Darwin tried to emphasize that evolution is a completely random process without knowing what would be the end-result. This means that, if evolution of life on earth started all over again, the result would probably be a completely different one.
The idea of a chain, though, postulated that evolution was a continuous progress of growing complexity with the human at the top and the end-result.
Still today, the most prevalent method of demonstrating evolutionary relationships is in the form of phylogenetic trees, even if slightly modified.
However, as already mentioned before, Darwin had to face much criticism concerning his postulates, from which the important ones are presented in the next section Some Problems.
