Charles Darwin 's ' Principles Of Geology

Jumping at the chance, Charles set sail on the Beagle with a phrenologist named FitzRoy, to complete a survey of South America’s coast. During his travels, Charles read a work called “The Principles of Geology” by British geologist Charles Lyell. In the book, Lyell challenged the religious ideas of earth’s formation and proposed uniformitarianism instead. Lyell believed that land was formed through the physical process of sedimentation, erupting volcanoes, and erosion (Berra 14). This theory struck a chord with Charles and a short while later he would begin to develop his own theories that went against the religious grain. In September of 1832, just south of Buenos Aires, Charles noticed bones embedded within the stones of a rocky cliff and went to work on extracting them. He had discovered a fossilized jawbone and tooth of a Megatherium, or Giant Sloth (Berra 18). The discovery of this fossil started his interest in extinction and often fueled arguments between himself and FitzRoy, a religious man, who said that extinction was quite simply the “door of the Ark being made too small” (Berra 19). Two years later, Charles would discover marine deposits that contained pieces of Petrified Forest. He concluded that the area must have once been under the sea and throughout time, uplifted some 7000 feet. His curiosity about the earth’s formation, evolution, and extinction was once again heightened.

Darwin was the British naturalist who became famous for his theories of evolution and natural selection. Like several scientists before him, Darwin believed all the life on earth evolved over millions of years from a few common ancestors. From 1831 to 1836 Darwin served as naturalist aboard the H.M.S. Beagle on a British science expedition around the world. In South America Darwin found fossils of extinct animals that were similar to modern species. On the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean he noticed many variations among plants and animals of the same general type as those in South America. The expedition visited places around the world, and Darwin studied plants and animals everywhere he went, collecting specimens for further study.

Charles Darwin began his scientific breakthroughs and upcoming theories when he began an expedition trip to the Galapagos Islands of South America. While studying there, he discovered that each island had its own type of plant and animal species. Although these plants and animals were similar in appearance, they had other characteristics that made them differ from one another and seem to not appear as similar. Darwin questioned why these plants and animals were on these islands and why they are different in ways.

When Darwin traveled over to the Galapagos island he traveled on a ship called the HMS Beagle. Darwin traveled to the Galapagos island to get information about evolution with the animals there. When he was there he observed tortoises, when he observed these animals he got a understanding of evolution over time. He saw that the tortoises in the area with food low to the floor had a flatter shell and a short neck, but when he observed tortoises with food high up he saw that the tortoises had a long neck and raised shell. Over time the tortoises evolved she they can survive in their environments. When he was their he wrote a book called the Darwins book on the origin of species. The information that he wrote about was information about species that were not fixed but could change over time by natural causes.

In 1837, Charles Darwin was traveling aboard the H.M.S. Beagle in the Eastern Pacific when he stopped on the Galapagos Islands. There, Darwin found a wide array of animals including the Galápagos finches. The differences that he uncovered between these animals sparked Darwin’s interest; he had never before seen nor attempted to understand the similarities and differences inherent within these species. Examining each and uncovering the probable reasons for their distinctions, namely their differing needs for adaptation, Darwin constructed his theory of natural selection. From his observations on the Galapagos Islands, Darwin continued developing his research into eventually what became known as the Origin of Species, published in 1858. In this book, he asserted that these animals and differing species did not just appeared out of thin air, but rather had evolved from other species through the process of natural selection. Yet, his scientific findings were not accepted by the general public when first published, nor long after. Instead, they sparked a great uproar and criticism, since for most people accepted the theory of the Creation, the belief of divine creation, as the way people and species appeared on earth. His findings, so contrary to the then accepted norm of creation, were met with hostility and resentment by many who considered his work

In a book he wrote titled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. He goes on to talk about his study animals and plants and how he comes to the conclusion that all animals and plants had evolved over time to survive the different environments that they lived in. That we humans have also evolved over time from apes to what we are now. This was a huge scientific breakthrough; science’s doors were wide open and this scientific theory gave people an opportunity to think outside the box. Darwin allowed for scientific advances bring these new information to the light.

The original purpose of Darwin’s voyage on the H.M.S. Beagle was to find evidence that could prove the biblical theory to be true, and to discover and chart the South American coastline which was not well known. He was to collect specimens of rocks, plants, minerals and animals along with observing and recording them. The ultimate significance of this trip for Darwin was rather than being able to prove that the biblical theory, he had evidence of evolution by natural selection. He found fossils of Glyptodont and Megatherium which were very similar to the common armadillo which led him to question whether the Earth was 6000 years old as it was believed to be or much older than that, and when collecting the common bird discovered differences

Previously, he had been inspired by Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology, which stated “present conditions and processes are clues to Earth’s past history.” While on the Beagle’s journey, Darwin sent home a total of 1,529 species that had been maintained in spirit as well as 3,907 desiccated specimens with labels (Biography Online). A breakthrough in Darwin’s studies was when he noticed certain forms of organisms subsist in particular areas, as well as that a wide variety of organisms had previously gone through changes that enabled them to stay alive in their particular environment (Notable Biographies). For instance, he studied the Finch in the Galapagos Islands and noticed that there are over twelve different forms of this one bird. These bird’s beaks were different sizes and shapes, depending on what food was available in their particular area. The animals on the Galapagos Islands showed many similarities to other animals in other parts of the world (Biography Online). Between the discovery of the different Finches along with the similarities of animals from other locations, he began to wonder if there was something more to earth’s history. These observations would later lead him to his theory

Charles Darwin liked to explore and study the natural world. One day while exploring he noticed that Galapagos finches were very similar to finches from Chile. He asked why would they be so similar if they had completely different climates? Darwin began questioning that each species had been uniquely created for its environment. Eventually Darwin argued, “that small changes in local populations would, in time, accumulate and result in an organism becoming incompatible with its ancestors”. Darwin eventually came up with a theory explaining the evolution of species but it did not address the origin of life. In the end he had many ideas and theories about evolution and his observations of the natural world supported them however he did not focus

Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace like so many of their predecessors made observations of natural phenomena that inspired proposals of how life on earth evolved, unlike others these men formed plausible explanations of how the changes in populations occurred without having any knowledge of Mendelian genetics which was presented in 1868, and provided the micro-mechanism for evolution that Darwin could never explain with his theory of Pangenesis. Rather, based solely on the observations each made over time observing different species of populations around the world, both men were able to pen the ideals that would serve as the foundation of the modern theory of evolution.

This isn't the only theory, though. James Hutton introduced a different approach to evolution. His theory, uniformitarianism, suggests that the prominent features of the earth's surface were produced by forces like wind, water, and weather over a long period of time. His theory was only partly true. It explains the question how fossils form, but it really doesn't thoroughly explain evolution. Another theory of evolution is catastrophism. This theory, brought about by Cuvier, says that the earth went through a great series of catastrophes. In his theory, Cuvier suggested that there was one big super continent. He said that the continents slowly drifted apart from one large continent by plate tectonics. Darwin had the chance to talk to all these people on his trip on the Beagle, and they gave him the idea to look into evolution.

Charles Robert Darwin was a British man who became one of the greatest contributors to the study of evolution. He was a naturalist who was able to develop a theory of evolution based on biological changes that he witnessed occurring in varieties of samples on his travels all around the world. Charles Darwin is valuable in science history, simply because he was the first geologists who had come the closest for closing the gap on how and why biological changes occurred.

One of these was Principles of Geology, by Charles Lyell (1797-1875). Lyell proposed a new explanation for the extinct creatures that appeared in the fossil record. Rather than being evidence of a biblical catastrophe, he wrote, gradual changes in the Earth modified conditions in such a way that some unprepared creatures slowly died out. What most alarmed many of his readers was that this process would take many thousands or even millions of years. This was contrary to religious teachings that the Earth was about 6,000 years old.” ("The Voyage of HMS Beagle.") His application of Lyell’s theory of the age of the earth and the meticulous details he took of the specimens he observed on the Beagle helped him prove his ideas. The fine work he showed with his observations made him a reputation in many circles back home before he even came back. ("The Voyage of HMS Beagle.")

Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, also referred to as Darwin’s Theory, is a widely held notion that organisms descended from a common ancestor; which he developed after the time of his extensive research on the Galapagos Islands. The publication of his work in 1859, The Origins of Species, along with other scientist’s discoveries relating to the topic, laid the groundwork for the understanding of the origins and evolution of life itself. Darwin’s contributions to the theory were supported by his observations of finches and tortoise on the islands, claiming that there are slight physical variations among species according to their adaptations to their own environment. Furthermore, he was able to hypothesize about why and how evolution

In 1858 Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace published a new evolutionary theory. Later in Darwin's research he discovered that all animals are different shapes and sizes and different couloirs and come with different uses. Darwin proposed common descent and a branching tree of life, this meaning that two very different species could share a common ancestor. [ History of evolution, online ] Darwin based his theory on the idea of natural selection. Natural selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more