Evolution in a Nutshell
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
- Darwin started as a believer in the literal interpretation of the Bible.
- From 1831 to 1836,Charles Darwin went on a 5 yr. expedition( on a ship called “The HMS Beagle”) to South America. Darwin discovered fossils of creatures that were already extinct and that dated millions of years old. He observed the adaptations of organisms to a variety of habitat from jungle to grassland to mountain habitats.
- During his trip on the Beagle he started to shift his thoughts into believing of the gradualism and immense time for geological changes.
- Darwin denounced the biblical account of creation.
- On Nov. 24, 1859, Darwin published his famous “The Origin of Species” which proposed that life, as we know it, is the product of millions of years of Evolution.
- Charles Darwin however agrees that if any of his hypothesis are proven wrong, that all his theory is false.
Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
- All species that inhabit the Earth evolved over millions of years from single-celled organisms which first appeared when the Earth’s crust was formed.
- “I believe it has been with the Tree of Life, which fills with its dead and broken branches the crust of the earth, and covers the surface with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications” -Darwin (1859)
Charles Darwin’s Tree of Life