Evolutionary Scientists

One of the first scientists to disprove spontaneous generation by showing that flies come from other flies and are not created from meat.

• Louis Pasteur

• Charles Darwin

• John Needham

• Francesco Redi

Scientist who believed - incorrectly - he proved spontaneous generation occurs for microorganisms because he did not realize that microbes were in the air and could contaminate his experiment.

• John Needham

• Carolus Linnaeus

• Lazzaro Spallanzini

• Jean-Baptiste de Lamark

Scientist who believed - incorrectly - that he disproved spontaneous generation by designing an experiment that kept heated broth from being recontaminated by air.

• Francesco Redi

• Lazzaro Spallanzini

• Louis Pasteur

• Charles Darwin

Scientist who finally disproved spontaneous generation for good by designing an experiment that confirmed microorganisms can be found in the air.

• Jean-Baptiste de Lamark

• John Needham

• Louis Pasteur

• Carolus Linnaeus

Scientist who is credited with one of the first theories of evolution. He believed - incorrectly - that organisms changed over time from simple to complex by acquiring and passing traits to offspring.

• Jean-Baptiste de Lamark

• Charles Darwin

• Charles Lyell

• Louis Pasteur

Father of evolution who believed that a process called natural selection explains how organisms evolved over time.

• Carolus Linnaeus

• Charles Darwin

• Charles Lyell

• Thomas Malthus

The idea that organisms better suited for their environment will survive and reproduce.

• Theory of Mutation

• Natural Selection

• Neo-Darwinism

• Evolutionary Selection

Theory that states organisms have changed gradually over a long period of time to form new organisms.

• Theory o Mutation

• Theory of Evolution

• Cell Theory

• Abiogenesis

Scientist who believed that human population growth would lead to poverty and famine.

• Charles Lyell

• Thomas Malthus

• Charles Darwin

• Lazzaro Spallanzini

Geologist who believed that natural processes over a long period of time were responsible for changes in the earths surface.

• Thomas Malthus

• Charles Lyell

• Alfred Russel Wallace

• Carolus Linnaeus