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My Paper on Scientists Who Were Significant to the Theory of Evolution As We Know It

amateurmacfreak

amateurmacfreak

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Okay, so, I have a paper due for school tomorrow on 4 different scientists (besides Darwin, of course) that have contributed to the theory of evolution as we know it today.

I've been doing some research online.. and have come across a good deal of info, I'd say... but if anyone has suggestions for scientists to cover... that would be awesome. 🙂

Science is my best class, and this is our last paper of the year due. I really want it to be awesome. So... normally I wouldn't turn to you guys for just a science paper, but... I just want some help to make it great. 😛

Thanks in advance! 🙂

(Yeah, yeah, I know it sounds like an easy, easy topic.... I'm just in 7th grade, cut me some slack. 😱)
 
Brize said:
Herbert Spencer is another.

Glad to hear that they're still teaching evolutionary theory in American schools. 😉
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Haha, my school is "independent" (euphemism for the snobby sound of private) so... my sci teacher can pretty much teach what he wants. 🙂
It gave me great pleasure the other day to hear one of my classmates (who said we should vote for her for treasurer who says prayers in assembly 'cause she's a 'good little Christian girl', but that's a whooole different story) say, "I don't think Darwin's as much of a psycho as I used to."
I will never understand why people blantantly reject the heavy scientific evidence, but that's just me and... I need to stop getting into the political aspects of this. 😱
Anyways, thank both of you for the names! 🙂
 
Thomas Huxley - Darwin's "Bulldog"
Without the support of others around him, Darwin may never have published.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck who supported evolution but proposed (wrongly it turned out later, but you can't fault him for not knowing about DNA 150 years before it was discovered) that learned traits could be passed to successive generations.

From Wikipedia
"Darwin not only praised Lamarck in the third edition of The Origin of Species for supporting the concept of evolution and bringing it to the attention of others, but also accepted the idea of use and disuse, and developed his theory of pangenesis partially to explain its apparent occurrence. Darwin and many contemporaries also believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, an idea that was much more plausible before the discovery of the cellular mechanisms for genetic transmission."

Stephen Jay Gould wrote a spirited defence of Lamarck's scientific integrity (if not his final conclusions) in one of his books.
 
I wrote an essay last semester regarding evolution/intelligent design. I'm not sure if it will help you out, but it might be worth a look.

[link]

</shameless plug>

Also note that if you have to cite sources, Wikipedia is usually frowned upon by instructors due to its notoriously leniant editorial policies. That's not to say that that Wikipedia is worthless, just that teachers would rather you cite more credible sources in your papers.
 
steelphantom said:
I wrote an essay last semester regarding evolution/intelligent design. I'm not sure if it will help you out, but it might be worth a look.

[link]

</shameless plug>
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Actually, thanks for linking that, even though it won't really be able to help me with my paper. 🙂
It's any interesting topic... I personally don't find it a childish debate though... Science should be taught in the classroom. Not some "theory" of intelligent design that can never have any hard evidence and that can never be proven.
</soap box>
Btw... I wrote a persuasive essay on why ID should not be taught in schools about a week ago for English.... if you want to read I can probs find somewhere to put it online.... but it might not be everyone's first choice to read a persuasive essay written for a 7th grade English class. 😛
 
amateurmacfreak said:
Actually, thanks for linking that, even though it won't really be able to help me with my paper. 🙂
It's any interesting topic... I personally don't find it a childish debate though... Science should be taught in the classroom. Not some "theory" of intelligent design that can never have any hard evidence and that can never be proven.
</soap box>
Btw... I wrote a persuasive essay on why ID should not be taught in schools about a week ago for English.... if you want to read I can probs find somewhere to put it online.... but it might not be everyone's first choice to read a persuasive essay written for a 7th grade English class. 😛
Click to expand...

You could sign up for a DeviantART account and put it up there, but other than that I don't know of a good site to store stuff like that. You could always save as PDF and attatch it to a post. Again, watch out for the Wikipedia thing if you have to cite sources. My English professor hated it if someone cited Wikipedia in his/her paper. 🙄
 
Man, UKnjb and Brize got the three I was going to list in the first two posts! I should have gotten here earlier. I will say, though, all three of those guys came up a lot in my Philosophy of Biology class, and there is a lot of great information about them out there.
 
Look up Ernst Mayr, TH Morgan, JBS Haldane, or Sewell Wright for folks who helped bring evolution into the mainstream (also RA Fisher, who was mentioned earlier).
 
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