The Discovery & Nature of Evolution by Natural Selection: Misconceptions & Lessons from the History of Science

1997 ◽  
Vol 59 (8) ◽  
pp. 492-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
William F. McComas
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Considering the Role and Nature of the Scientist

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Serap Öz Aydın
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
Negative Thoughts ◽  
Science Approach ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection ◽  
Scientific Framework

For many students, preconceived notions about Darwin are among the most significant obstacles in learning about the theory of evolution by natural selection. I present an activity designed to eliminate this obstacle and encourage empathizing with Darwin, utilizing the history-of-science approach. Through the activity, students’ negative thoughts about Darwin disappeared, Darwin’s position as a scientist came to the fore, students’ interest in evolution increased, and they started to discuss the theory within a scientific framework.

Mendel, Darwin, and Fisher (1865-1965)

1964 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 192-226 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Biological Science ◽  
Order Of Magnitude ◽  
History Of ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

On 8 February 1865, Mendel read a paper entitled Versuche über Pflanzen-Hybriden before the Naturforschender Verein in Brünn. The audience consisted of about forty; there was no discussion. At a further meeting on the following 8 March, he discussed the interpretation of his results and their significance. It is not too much to claim that this communication, which was the foundation of the science of genetics and introduced mathematics and the theory of probability into the study of inheritance, represented an advance of knowledge in biological science of an order of magnitude comparable with that of evolution by natural selection. As will be seen below, these two discoveries had the most important bearing on each other, but this was not reahzed except by Mendel himself and by biologists generally after the year 1930. Mendel’s paper was printed and published in 1866 but remained ignored and forgotten for thirty-four years. Now, one hundred years after its announcement to an inattentive and unappreciative world of science, it is possible to appraise it at its true worth. This is largely owing to the experiments, demonstrations, and conclusions of Sir Ronald Fisher, F.R.S., who, in 1930, brought out the full significance of Mendel’s work, which will be referred to below. First, however, it is necessary to consider with as rigorous precision as possible exactly what it was that Mendel did, and how he did it. Here again, it was Fisher who undertook this investigation when he subjected Mendel’s paper to close scrutiny from the combined points of view of genetics, statistics, and the history of science.

Getting Beyond the Apemen

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Lesley Newson ◽  
Peter J. Richerson
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Evolutionary Process ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Evolutionary Processes ◽  
Complex Information ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

This introductory chapter explains why a new story of human evolution is needed, and also lays the foundations of the story told in this book. One of the reasons we need a new story is that previous stories have concentrated on what our male ancestors were doing. Since survival is most at risk in the first years of life, it makes much more sense to concentrate on children and their mothers than on adult males. A brief account of the history of ideas in evolution by natural selection and human evolution provides readers with a background in evolutionary processes. Humans are a product of evolution, but we are not like other animals, because we are connected and readily share complex information. We are unique and our evolution was the result of a unique evolutionary process. To understand ourselves in evolutionary terms, it’s necessary to consider two intertwined evolutionary processes—genes and culture.

A Genealogy of Variation

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Charles Darwin ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

This chapter traces the genealogy of variation, as shaped by Charles Darwin and his legacy of evolution by natural selection. It argues that tracing the history of variation through a naturecultural framework reveals the inherent underlying logic of eugenics. A naturecultural framework allows us to see that evolutionary biologists have long wrestled with some version of what we recognize as the nature/nurture debates. Furthermore, in chronicling this history, the chapter deals with the major figures, including the four patriarchs, or fathers, of the field: Darwin, the father of evolution; Galton, the father of biometry; Malthus, the father of demography; and Mendel, the father of genetics.

Generation and the Origin of Species (1837–1937): A Historiographical Suggestion

1989 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 267-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. S. Hodge
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Heritable Variation ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Research And Teaching ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Individual

Bernard Norton's friends in the history of science have had many reasons for commemorating, with admiration and affection, not only his research and teaching but no less his conversation and his company. One of his most estimable traits was his refusal to beat about the bush in raising the questions he thought worthwhile pursuing. I still remember discoursing at Pittsburgh on Darwin's route to his theory of natural selection, and being asked at the end by Bernard what were Darwin's views on heredity. I answered with the conventional waffle to the effect that the theory concerned the populational fate rather than the individual production and transmission of heritable variation, so that whatever views Darwin had on heredity had only a subsidiary place in his theorizing. Bernard was not fooled. ‘I would have thought’, he said, ‘that in order to understand anyone's theorising about evolution it would be necessary to look at his views on heredity’.

‘Hurrah for the missing link!’: a history of apes, ancestors and a crucial piece of evidence

2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter C. Kjærgaard
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Human Evolution ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Animal Kingdom ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
Origin Of Species ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

In the nineteenth century the idea of a ‘missing link’ connecting humans with the rest of the animal kingdom was eagerly embraced by professional scientists and popularizers. After the publication of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859, many tied the idea and subsequent search for a crucial piece of evidence to Darwin and his formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection. This article demonstrates that the expression was widely used and that the framework for discussions about human's relation to the apes and gaps in the fossil record were well in place and widely debated long before Origin of Species became the standard reference for discussing human evolution. In the second half of the century the missing link gradually became the ultimate prize in palaeoanthropology and grew into one of the most powerful, celebrated and criticized icons of human evolution.

scholarly journals Revolutions in the head: Darwin, Malthus and Robert M. Young

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
James A. Secord
Keyword(s):  
Vietnam War ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Population Control ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
Theory Of Evolution ◽  
History Of ◽  
Political Associations ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Abstract The late 1960s witnessed a key conjunction between political activism and the history of science. Science, whether seen as a touchstone of rationality or of oppression, was fundamental to all sides in the era of the Vietnam War. This essay examines the historian Robert Maxwell Young's turn to Marxism and radical politics during this period, especially his widely cited account of the ‘common context’ of nineteenth-century biological and social theorizing, which demonstrated the centrality of Thomas Robert Malthus's writings on population for Charles Darwin's formulation of the theory of evolution by natural selection. From Young's perspective, this history was bound up with pressing contemporary issues: ideologies of class and race in neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory, the revival of Malthusian population control, and the role of science in military conflict. The aim was to provide a basis for political action – the ‘head revolution’ that would accompany radical social change. The radical force of Young's argument was blunted in subsequent decades by disciplinary developments within history of science, including the emergence of specialist Darwin studies, a focus on practice and the changing political associations of the history of ideas. Young's engaged standpoint, however, has remained influential even as historians moved from understanding science as ideology to science as work.

scholarly journals Alfred Russel Wallace na Amazônia e a Construção de uma Ideia: seus estudos na distribuição dos animais como uma ferramenta no ensino de biologia

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 144-157
Author(s):  
Emerson Barão Rodrigues Soldado ◽  
Jairo José Matozinho Cubas ◽  
Ana Maria Alfonso-Goldfarb
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Students ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Species Range ◽  
Range Limit ◽  
School Students ◽  
Alfred Russel Wallace ◽  
Keywords History Of Science ◽  
History Of

ResumoAlfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), naturalista inglês conhecido por seus estudos sobre a seleção natural, teve sua primeira expedição na Amazônia. De 1848 a 1852, observou e descreveu fauna, flora, geologia e grupos humanos que ali habitavam e abordou a temática da distribuição dos animais, apontando os limites de alcance das espécies e sua relação com o meio. O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar, a partir de livros e artigos relativos ao período, como essa noção do limite de alcance das espécies foi abordado por Wallace e sua importância para a formulação de conceitos biogeográficos e de seleção natural. Houve ainda a construção e aplicação de uma sequência didática no ensino de biologia. Com o material analisado, apresentou-se para os estudantes um processo de construção de uma ideia, valendo-se de textos originais. A sequência didática iniciou-se com alunos do Ensino Médio, lendo trechos escritos por Wallace, com passagens que descrevem o limite de alcance de espécies amazônicas. Em seguida, tiveram que formular hipóteses sobre tais observações. Posteriormente, houveram aulas sobre o histórico do pensamento evolutivo e conceitos de seleção natural. Na finalização, incentivou-se os estudantes a refletirem sobre o processo de construção de ideias na ciência, de forma contextualizada e participativa. Verificou-se que os estudos de Wallace colaboram de forma relevante para o ensino da evolução e história da ciência, apontando a necessidade de novas abordagens nesse tema.Palavras-chave: História da ciência; Alfred Russel Wallace; Amazônia; distribuição de animais; ensino de biologia. Abstract(Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913), an English naturalist known for his studies on natural selection, had his first expedition to the Amazon. From 1848 to 1852, he observed and described fauna, flora, geology and human groups who lived there and addressed the issue of distribution of animals, pointing out the limits of range of the species and its relationship with the environment. The objective of this study was to analyze, from books and articles for the period, as this notion of species range limit was approached by Wallace and its importance for the development of biogeographic concepts and natural selection. There was also the construction and application of a didactic sequence in the teaching of biology. With the material analyzed, was presented to the students a process of constructing an idea, using original texts. The didactic sequence began with high school students, reading excerpts written by Wallace, with passages that describe the limits of the range of Amazonian species. They then had to formulate hypotheses about such observations. Later, there were classes on the history of evolutionary thinking and concepts of natural selection. Upon completion, students were encouraged to reflect on the process of constructing ideas in science in a contextualized and participatory manner. It was verified that the studies of Wallace collaborate in a relevant way for the teaching of the evolution and history of science, pointing out the necessity of new approaches in this subject. Keywords: History of science; Alfred Russel Wallace; Amazônia; distribution of animals; teaching of biology

Evolution of birds

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Graham Scott
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
Evolutionary Adaptation ◽  
Conservation Implications ◽  
Modern Bird ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution Of Birds ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

This chapter explores the evolutionary history of birds. It considers the dinosaur origins of birds and the evolution of the modern bird lineages. The development of the modern bird from its prehistoric, reptilian ancestors is analysed by discussion of important fossil specimens, particularly that of Archaeopteryx, and the development of both morphological and biomolecular phylogenies. Evolution by natural selection is explained, as are processes of evolutionary adaptation and speciation. The conservation implications of hybridization are considered and the classification and nomenclature of birds is introduced. Throughout the chapter examples of current research are presented alongside established classic studies to engage the reader and provide a route into the relevant scientific literature.

The First Darwinian: Alfred Russel Wallace and the Meaning of Darwinism

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-184
Author(s):  
Ian Hesketh
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Periodical Press ◽  
Alfred Russel Wallace ◽  
Evolutionary Naturalism ◽  
Victorian Period ◽  
History Of ◽  
Evolution By Natural Selection

Abstract This essay is an initial study of a larger project that seeks to produce a history of the term ‘Darwinism’. While it is generally well-known that Darwinism could refer to a variety of different things in the Victorian period, from a general evolutionary naturalism to the particular theory of natural selection, very little has been written about the history of the term or how it was contested at given times and places. Building on James Moore’s 1991 sketch of the history of Darwinism in the 1860s, this paper specifically seeks to situate Alfred Russel Wallace’s 1889 book Darwinism in the context of a larger struggle over Darwin’s legacy in the 1880s. It is argued that Wallace used his authority as one of the founders of evolution by natural selection to reimagine what he called ‘pure Darwinism’ as a teleological evolutionism, one that integrated the theory of natural selection with an interpretation of spirit phenomena thereby producing a more agreeable and holistic account of life than was previously associated with Darwinian evolution. By considering the reception of Wallace’s Darwinism in the periodical press it will be argued further that Wallace’s interpretation of Darwinism was generally well received, which suggests that our understanding of what Darwinism meant in the late Victorian period needs to be revisited.

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