1§ Out of all of Darwins influences I believe that Lyell had the most influence over Darwins work. Lydell work of the coral reef inspired Darwin to conduct his own research, which later lead to his work on evolution.
http://www.aboutdarwin.com/people/people_01.html#0140
§ Lydells Principles of Geology provided a theory that the earth formed slowly rather than over a short period of time
http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_1.htm
§ Because of Lyell’s, Darwin, at one point decided to research the similarities between different species and improve upon his then hypotheses on evolution. Also, the fact that Darwin researched the ever changing Earth could made Darwin curious about how the organisms and life survived in a different environment over thousands and millions of years.
§ I believe that Darwin needs his background work in the evolution of geology to complete his work on natural selection. The fact that the Earth is always changing means that food sources and availability is constantly changing. In order to survive, animals must be able to reach these food sources and thus constantly changing. Natural selection allows for the advancement and survival of the organisms best suited to survive in the constantly changing environments.
§ The church in Darwin’s time did not approve of his work but did not stop him. At that time it was not common practice to look to science to explain the wonders of the world or to provide answers about the life on Earth. He was afraid of being attacked by the church for his ideas and hesitated to publish his work.
Overall, good job.
ReplyDeleteYou alluded to the primary contribution Lyell made to Darwin's work, and that was the gift of time.
During Darwin's time, it was still generally accepted that the earth was young, only about 6000 years old. This was not enough time for the slow process of evolution to produce the diversity of extinct and extant organisms on earth. Because of Lyell's work, Darwin now how millions of years to work with, with opened the door to slower mechanisms.