Can someone give me a brief history of the theory of evolution?

Question

From the publication of "On the Origin of Species" in 1859 until the Scopes Trial in 1925. I would like to know what scientists and others thought about evolution after Darwin's publication. How long did it take until scientists other than Wallace accepted it?

Answer 1

First, you have to understand that Darwin did not orginate the idea of "Evolution." It was commonly written about by many, many people before his time. What Darwin did was identify the process by which Evolution takes place, namely, "Natural Selection." I think that the word "Evolution" does not occur in the first edition that was published of "Origin of Species" in 1859

Second, after Darwin's book came out, a very large number of biologists bought into it right away, but there were some very good scientific objections to it that took a while to work out. For instance, the proponents of Natural Selection insisted that it would have taken a very long time for the process to produce all the living things now on Earth, but several leading physicists calculated that the solar system could not be that old. They calculated that if the sun consisted of carbon, it would burn out in only a few million years, so there was no way the solar system could be 100s of millions of years old. This objection was not answered until Einstein explained E=mc2. Once we knew about nuclear fission and fusion, then we had an asnwer for how the sun could have lasted billions of years.
By the time of the Scopes trial in the 1920s, virtually all scientists had accepted that Evolution by Natural Selection was the way that the living things on the earth developed. Many churches came to recognize this scientific position by the mid 20th century - as, the Roman Catholic church which has been on board with Evolution since explicit comments by the Pope in about 1950, and repeated comments by Popes since then, including Benedict.

Answer 2

Now this is not a simple question, I cannot give you an answer, just comment.
There still are scientists who do not accept it!!
This is usually on religious grounds, these same folk will not accept that there can be other life within the solar system, one is a great friend of mine!
For the record the creation of the world in the Bible is so precise (the big bang) it could never have been dreamt up >4,000years ago.
The finding the celeocanth was an important conformation that aquatic could have moved to land movement.
The fact that our bodies work on the "I need it now, to hell with tomorrow" principle- Ca & Mg removal from bones as well as amino acid stripping of muscles in strenuous exercise with insuficient instant energy source, all point to the fact that we developed in a time flight or fight otherwise you died.

Answer 3

"Evolution by means of natural selection" is one of the most elegant yet robust theories in science. At its core is the premise that there is, within a group of the same beings, variation within that group. And that some characteristics of that variation may enhance an individual's chances of survival to adulthood, and/or of having more offspring than others in the group. This group could be anything from trees to bacteria to humans.
For instance, if Malaria is rampant in a large area, and many people are dying from it in childhood, any individual who was somehow genetically immune to malaria would have a much better chance of surviving and having offspring than someone who was not immune. He or she would then pass this genetic immunity to many of their offspring, who might also be immune, and so on increasing down the generations. The genetic immunity therefore is spread throughout the species. Many characteristics are passed on in this way, slowly modifying a species, until, many generations, sometimes millions of years later, it no longer resembled what it once was. Things such as skin colour, hairiness, becoming upright etc etc, all had their origins in genetic mutations which led to small improvements in survival rates for individuals over many years.

Darwin lived in very religious times, so was persecuted for his theory. But then, so was Galileo about the Earth revolving about the Sun. Eventually it will be accepted. The Catholic Church does not officially oppose evolution, although some individual high officials fear it detracts from creation.

Answer 4

Out of 120,000 fertilized eggs of the green frog only two individuals survive. Are we to conclude that these two frogs out of 120,000 were selected by nature because they were the fittest ones? If only a few out of millions and even billions of individuals are to survive and reproduce, then there is some difficulty believing that it should really be the fittest who would do so. Strongly different abilities and varying environmental conditions can turn up during different phases of ontogenesis. Hiding places of predator and prey, the distances between them, local differences of biotopes and geographical circumstances, weather conditions and microclimates all belong to the repertoire of infinitely varying parameters. Coincidences, accidents, and chance occurrences are strongly significant in the lives of all individuals and species.

Answer 5

First of all, we are NOT descendant from apes, however we DO come from a common ancestor, from which both humans and primates branched off. We share something like 98% of common genes-only 2% different.
Scientists after Darwin had a hard time stomaching his theory, and often labeled those who supported his theory as crazy and they lost their reputations as otherwise respectable scientists. Even today people have trouble letting go of their faiths and embracing the truth as it so evidentally lays before them. Scientists did not label it as a technical theory till, I believe, the 1950's, though I am not sure of that. Hope I helped somewhat.

Answer 6

Even today it is almost always misused and overstated. Darwin proposed that characteristics most likely to let a lifeform survive and inherited by children would continue as they would be inherited. Children without those charateristics would be less likely to survive. Though religious I have no problem accepting this. Many blow this all out of proportion.

Answer 7

It is one hell of a theory which talks about the beginning of the Living Things on this Planet...

Supposedly, we will come to know that APES are our ancestors where through evolution it has developed to become us HUMANS....

Are you willing to accept that CRAP ??

I never believed in this nonsense. since humans were created in a perfect form, starting with our FIRST FATHER Adam....

I mean how come a huge Dinosaur ends up with a form of a turtle....

Give me a break...

Answer 8

Check wikipedia, I could explain but you will get a better explanation from them than anyone on Yahoo! answers!

Answer 9

"Origin of Species" ignited the imagination and passions, both for and against, from the start.

Answer 10

Some 150 years ago, the British naturalist Charles Darwin proposed a theory based on various observations made during his travels, but which could not be supported by any subsequent scientific findings. In essence, his theory of evolution consisted of various scenarios, assumptions and conjectures that Darwin dreamed up in his own imagination.
According to his evolution scenario, inanimate substances came together by chance to give rise to the first living cell. No doubt this claim was highly inaccurate, and one that could not be corroborated by any scientific evidence or findings. Again according to that myth, this single-celled life form gradually—and again by chance—turned into the first living species of microbe—in other words, it evolved. According to the evolution error, all the life forms on Earth, from bacteria on up to human beings, emerged as the result of this same imaginary process.
Darwin's claims were of course based on no scientific evidence or findings. But since the scientific understanding and technological means available at the time were at a fairly primitive level, the full extent of the ridiculous and unrealistic nature of his assertions did not emerge fully into the light of day. In such a climate, Darwin's scenarios received general acceptance from a wide number of circles.
The foundation of Darwin's theory of evolution was materialism. Therefore, it didn't take long for his theory to be adopted by materialists. Since materialist circles denied the fact of creation, they blindly grasped at the theory of evolution, and even declared that it was supposedly the scientific basis of their own world views.
By carrying out a great deal of research and investigation, and by establishing artificial environments in laboratories, they sought to come up with findings that would corroborate Darwin's theory. However, every piece of research and every new finding they obtained, only constituted evidence that refuted evolution rather than confirming it. Science and technology had made rapid progress since the beginning of the 20th century, and refuted the theory of evolution. All the branches of science concerned with the subject–such as microbiology, biomathematics, cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, anatomy, physiology, anthropology and paleontology- -revealed countless proofs that totally undermined the theory of evolution.
The fossil record is perhaps the most important evidence that demolishes the theory of evolution's claims. Fossils reveal that life forms on Earth have never undergone even the slightest change and have never developed into one another. Examining the fossil record, we see that living things are exactly the same today as they were hundreds of millions of years ago—in other words, that they never underwent evolution. Even during the most ancient periods, life forms emerged suddenly with all their complex structures–with the perfect and superior features, just as do their counterparts today.
This demonstrates one indisputable fact: Living things did not come into being through the imaginary processes of evolution. All the living things that have ever existed on Earth were created by God. This fact of creation is once again revealed in the traces left behind them by flawless living things.
This book(the link below):
http://www.harunyahya.com/books/darwinism/atlas_creation/atlas_creation_01.php

will provide you with not only such information as what fossils are and where and how they are found, but also a closer examination of a variety of fossil specimens, millions of years old, that are still able to declare, "We never underwent evolution; we were created." The fossils discussed and illustrated in this book are just a few examples of the hundreds of millions of specimens that prove the fact of creation. And even these few are enough to prove that the theory of evolution is a major hoax and deception in the history of science.


WHAT IS A FOSSIL?


In the broadest definition, a fossil is the remains of a living thing that lived long ago and that has survived down to the present day by being preserved under natural conditions. The fossils that come down to us are parts of an organism, or remains left behind when the living thing concerned was still alive (the latter are known as trace fossils.) They are formed when dead animals or plants are preserved before they completely decay and eventually become part of the earth's sedimentary rock. In order for fossilization to take place, the animal or plant concerned must be buried in a fairly rapid manner—generally by being covered in a layer of silt. This is generally followed by a chemical process, during which preservation is ensured by means of mineral changes that take place in the original tissues.
Fossils are the most important evidence of the details of prehistoric life. From various regions of the world, hundreds of millions of fossils have been obtained, and they provide a window into the history and structure of life on Earth. Millions of fossils indicate that species appeared suddenly, fully-formed and with their complex structures, and have undergone no changes in the millions of years since. This is significant proof that life was brought into existence out of nothing—in other words that it was created. Not a single fossil suggests that living things formed gradually, in other words that they evolved. The fossil specimens that evolutionists maintain as "intermediate fossils" are few in number, and the invalidity of these has been scientifically proven. At the same time, some of the specimens depicted as intermediate fossils have actually been revealed as fakes, demonstrating that Darwinists are in such a state of despair as to resort to fraud.
For the last 150 years or so, fossils from excavations carried out all over the world prove that fish have always been fish, insects have always been insects, birds have always been birds and reptiles have always been reptiles. Not one single fossil has pointed to any transition between living species—in other words, from fish to amphibian or from reptile to bird. In short, the fossil record has definitively demolished the theory of evolution's basic claim, that species descended from one another by undergoing changes over long periods of time.
In addition to the information that fossils provide concerning life forms, they also supply significant data regarding the history of the planet, such as how the movements of continental plates have altered the surface of the Earth and what kind of climatic changes took place in past eras.
Fossils have attracted the interest of researchers ever since the days of ancient Greece, although their study as a distinct branch of science began only in the middle of the 17th century. This followed the works of the researcher Robert Hooke (author of Micrographia, 1665, and Discourse of Earthquakes, 1668) and Niels Stensen (better known as Nicolai Steno). At the time when Hooke and Steno carried out their investigations, most thinkers did not believe that fossils were actually the remains of living things that had existed in the past. At the heart of the debate over whether fossils were the actual remains of living things lay the inability to explain where fossils were discovered, in terms of geological data. Fossils were frequently found in mountainous regions, although at the time, it was impossible to account for how a fish, for example, could have been fossilized in a stratum of rock so high above sea level. Just as Leonardo da Vinci had previously suggested, Steno maintained that sea levels must have declined over the course of history. Hooke, on the other hand, said that mountains have been formed as the result of warming inside the Earth and earthquakes in the oceanic plates.
Following the accounts of Hooke and Steno, who explained that fossils were actually the remains of living things that had once lived in the past, geology developed during the 18th and 19th centuries, and systematic fossil collecting and research began turning into a branch of science. The principles that Steno had laid out were followed in the classification and interpretation of fossils. From the 18th century on, the development of mining and increased railway construction permitted greater, more detailed investigation of what lay below the ground surface.
Modern geology revealed that the Earth's crust consisted of enormous sections known as "plates," which moved across the surface of the globe, carrying the continents and forming the oceans. The greater the movement of the plates, the more changes in the Earth's geography. Mountain ranges were the result of the collisions between very large plates. Changes and upthrusts in the Earth's geography that took place over very long periods of time also showed that strata that today form portions of mountains were once under water.
In this way, fossils seen in rock strata emerged as one major means of obtaining information about the different periods of the Earth's history. Geological information showed that the remains of living things preserved after death in sediments—fossils, in other words—rose up in rock strata laid down over enormously long periods of time. Some of the rocks in which fossils were found dated back hundreds of millions of years.
During these studies, it was observed that specific fossil species were found only in specific strata and certain types of rock. Consecutive rock strata were observed to contain their own fossil groups, which could be regarded as that particular layer's "signature." These "signature fossils" could vary, according to time, period, and area. For example, two different environmental conditions and kinds of sediments—an ancient lake bed and a coral reef, for example—might be encountered in the same fossil-bearing stratum belonging to the same geologic period. Alternatively, one might encounter the same fossil "signature" in two different rock beds many kilometers apart from one another. Through the information imparted by these remains, scientists determined the geological time frame that we still use today.


Useful links:

Evolution Deceit:
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The Disasters Darwinism Brought To Humanity:
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The Collapse Of The Theory Of Evolution In 20 Questions:
(PDF file)
http://fs.www.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=80&Format=pdf
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The Disasters Darwinism Brought To Humanity:
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Millions of Proofs that Refute Darwinism
http://fs.www.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=4813&Format=pdf
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A Definitive Reply To Evolutionist Propaganda:
http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=210&Format=pdf
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How Fossils Overturned Evolution:
HTTP://FS.HARUNYAHYA.NET/POPUP/DOWNLOAD.PHP?WORKNUMBER=4813&FORMAT=PDF
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The Religion Of Darwinism
HTTP://FS.HARUNYAHYA.NET/POPUP/DOWNLOAD.PHP?WORKNUMBER=1959&FORMAT=RTF
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Not By Chance:
http://fs.www.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=1815&Format=pdf
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A Definitive Reply To Evolutionist Propaganda
HTTP://FS.HARUNYAHYA.NET/POPUP/DOWNLOAD.PHP?WORKNUMBER=210&FORMAT=PDF
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Why Darwinism Is Incompatible With The Qur'an :
HTTP://FS.HARUNYAHYA.NET/POPUP/DOWNLOAD.PHP?WORKNUMBER=208&FORMAT=PDF
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Fascism The Bloody Ideology of Darwinism
HTTP://FS.HARUNYAHYA.NET/POPUP/DOWNLOAD.PHP?WORKNUMBER=225&FORMAT=PDF
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The Dark Spell of Darwinism
HTTP://FS.HARUNYAHYA.NET/POPUP/DOWNLOAD.PHP?WORKNUMBER=2182&FORMAT=PDF
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The Golden Age
http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=1462&Format=pdf
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Darwinism Refuted
http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=85&Format=pdf
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Never Forget
http://fs.www.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=345&Format=pdf
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Signs Of God:
http://fs.www.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=1962&Format=pdf
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The Nightmare Of Disbelief:
http://fs.harunyahya.net/popup/Download.php?WorkNumber=256&Format=pdf
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WONDERFUL VIDEOS:
THE COLLAPSE OF EVOLUTION :
http://www.harunyahya.com/m_video_detail.php?api_id=1245

THE CREATION OF THE UNIVERSE:
http://harunyahya.com/m_video_creation_universe.php
The miracle of man's creation :
http://www.harunyahya.com/m_video_detail.php?api_id=1249
THE COLLAPSE OF ATHEISM :
http://www.harunyahya.com/m_video_detail.php?api_id=1244


ALLAH IS KNOWN THROUGH REASON:

http://www.harunyahya.com/m_video_detail.php?api_id=1069

Related site: http://www.creationofuniverse.com/
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Other Islamic references:

http://www.islam-guide.com/islam-guide.pdf


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