Darwin, Charles (1809-1882)

Charles Darwin's discoveries and theories were of such importance that it is hard to imagine how people perceived things before they were made. Modern evolutionary biology, molecular sciences, and many other new subfields of science would be unthinkable without Darwin's ideas. The idea that humans have evolved is now very well supported by fossil evidence of hominid predecessors. Conversely, many of Darwin's ideas that were speculative at his own time have now been shown to be true. One such basic tenet was that all organisms are individually unique; that is, they vary from one another by inherited traits. This is diversity and diversity has now been shown to exist even at molecular and genetic (chromosomal) levels to an extent totally unknown and unsuspected at Darwin's time. More offspring are produced (by any species) than can survive to adulthood and reproduce, so that only certain traits and characteristics survive - known as natural selection. And most importantly, all organisms are connected through a process of evolution: Selection processes favor some variants over others, and their accumulation may lead to new species.