INTRODUCING MR. DARWIN

BASIC QUESTIONS IN BIOLOGY 1) ORIGIN Where did the organisms come from? 2 DIVERSITY How can we account for the variety? 3) ADAPTATIONS How can we explain the specializations? 4) SCALA NATURAE What is the basis for the ladder of life?

TWO HYPOTHESES DIVINE CREATION God created organisms exactly as we see them today by a miracle. Species do not change. They are “fixed.” Creation occurred in the recent past ~6,000 yrs ago

TWO HYPOTHESES DIVINE CREATION Prevailing paradigm for 2,000 + years Consistent with the view that miracles occur and God intervenes in daily affairs Its usefulness began to fail ~ 400 years ago e.g. It didn’t explain fossils or their arrangement e.g. The church’s influence began to diminish

DIVINE CREATION It was good hypothesis because it was simple. it stimulated research into exploring God’s creations.

DIVINE CREATION It was NOT a good hypothesis because It depends upon supernatural explanations- Miracles It can not be adequately tested Anything is possible with a god—

TWO HYPOTHESES DIVINE CREATION was the accepted explanation for the 4 questions This was the situation until the 1800’s Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1809) (Frenchman) came along and claimed Evolution occurred. THEN

2) EVOLUTION HYPOTHESIS Organisms change in appearance over time Species are not “fixed.” The origin of life is not known and a God or gods may or may not have been involved but It happened long ago—the earth is ancient. Evolution was an old idea proposed by the Greeks.

2) EVOLUTION HYPOTHESIS No one took it seriously because People didn’t see organisms changing There was no mechanism for this change Then Lamarck proposed Evolution by Acquired Characteristics

50 yrs later Charles Darwin Published “The Origin of Species” (1859) claiming Evolution occurred by Natural Selection Trip on the HMS Beagle to South America Darwin “changed from an ordinary creationist to an extraordinary evolutionist”

WHO WAS CHARLES DARWIN?

Erasmus Darwin—Charles’s Grandfather

Robert Darwin—Charles’s father

Charles’s Darwin’s childhood home

Young Charles Darwin

Charles’ Darwin’s beetle collection

Portrait of Charles Darwin ~ 22 years old

University of Edinburgh

Christ Church College—Cambridge University

John Henslow

The Journey of the Beagle

H.M.S. Beagle

Darwin H.M.S. Beagle—90 ft. long, 85 men

Captain Robert Fitzroy

DARWIN’S THREE CLUES 1) Populations close together are similar. Populations far apart are different.

DARWIN’S THREE CLUES 2) Fossil and living armadillos exist together

DARWIN’S THREE CLUES 3) Galapagos Islands: ~14 different islands with species that are related but different .

DARWIN’S THREE CLUES 3) Are these different creations or are they varieties that have been modified from an original immigrant & then specialized for each island?

Homeward bound via Australia

The Journey of the Beagle

The Journey of the Beagle

The Journey of the Beagle

The Journey of the Beagle

On Charles Darwin’s trip around the world on the HMS Beagle he “changed from an ordinary creationist to an extraordinary evolutionist”

Emma Darwin

Charles and Emma’s Home

Alfred Russel Wallace

Thomas Huxley

Bishop Samuel Wilberforce