Evolution is one of the most controversial topics in modern history. Charles Darwin is the name that some scientists’ praise and some Christians despise. Whether or not one believes in the theory of evolution, it has a history preceding and continuing before and after the days of Darwin. The history of the evolutionary theory is a complex and progressing topic that even today continues to be analyzed and debated.
Few words in the English language carry as much controversy as the word evolution. The word evolution refers to the process occurs in all living organisms to develop, diversify, and adapt from earlier forms. Although the word evolution is synonymous with Charles Darwin, it can trace its roots to the Greek. The theory of evolution
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Each generation of progressive thinkers and scientist slowly formulated theories and inspired new ones. Since early childhood, Carl Linnaeus a Sweden-born botanist was fascinated with plants and their names. Linnaeus’s love of plants led him to study medicine, much to the initial disappointment of his father, who would have rather seen him follow in his footsteps as a priest. Linnaeus’s studies led him to attend the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. Later during the first the year of his studies at the school, Linnaeus published his first work Systema Naturae, his book on the biological classification of living things. Linnaeus continued to develop his classification system, which was one of the first of its kind. When Linnaeus set out to develop his classification system, he did so with the belief that one could better understand God’s wisdom by studying nature. This way of thinking can be seen in the quote by Linnaeus “The Earth’s creation is the glory of God, as seen from the works of Nature by Man alone.” Linnaeus initially believed that species were unchangeable, and even went as far to write, “The invariability of species is the condition for order.” However, over the course of his research, Linnaeus observed that plants could change by hybridizing, but his views of divine creation led him to believe that even though the plants may change the original plants must have originated as a close …show more content…
Darwin grew up in the small town of Shrewsbury, England. Born into a long line of doctors and scientists, Darwin was nearly destined to be the great biologist he became. To appease the wishes of his father, Darwin originally went to school to become a doctor; however, Darwin dropped out due to a general distaste for the long, tiresome lectures, along with the fact that he could not stand the sight of blood. Darwin went on to study for a Bachelors of Arts at Christ’s College in Cambridge. During his time in school, he studied many creation based works, but being the freethinker he was, did not limit himself to creationist works. During his time at Christ’s College, he caught the attention of the prominent biologist John Stevens Henslow, whom eventually became Darwin’s mentor. Shortly after Darwin’s graduation in 1831, he was offered a position as a naturalist aboard the HMS Beagle thanks to a recommendation from Henslow. During his initial voyage, Darwin visited the Galapagos and Pacific Islands. Over the course of his trip, Darwin was exposed to and collected a wide variety of specimens of birds and plants. Darwin noticed remarkable differences in the species, which started to raise a number of questions in his mind. He noticed similarities within the