Pre-Darwinian "Scientists" Important in the History of Evolutionary Thought

Date
Person
Contribution
 
384-322 BC
Aristotle
Scala Naturae
1628-1705
John Ray
Natural Theology
1743-1805
William Paley
Intelligent Design
1707-1778
Linnaeus
Classification
1707-1788
Buffon
"Old" earth; Histoire Naturelle
1797-1875
Charles Lyell
Uniformitarianism
1744-1829
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Biological Evolution (Inheritance of acquired characteristics)
1769-1832
Georges Cuvier
Extinction; paleontology
1766-1834
Thomas Malthus
Essays on the Principles of Populations

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