The idea of organic evolution goes far back into ancient times, but few accepted it until well into the 19th century. The difficulty was that organisms appear to be adapted for their ways of life, yet no non-supernatural mechanism was known. Thus while physics and chemistry were visualized as sciences responding solely to natural laws, no such explanation seemed possible to explain biological diversity. Accordingly, it was somewhat of a shock when, on November 24, 1859, Charles Darwin published not only an overwhelming amount of evidence for the occurrence of evolution, but a natural explanation of its mechanism.
The evidence for evolution assembled by Darwin could not be ignored, and the scientific world quickly accepted the theory. Darwin's mechanism, natural selection, however, remained controversial, and it was nearly the middle of the 20th century before it was fully accepted by scientists.
Although today we recognize several mechanisms unknown to Darwin to be
involved in evolution, scientists agree that natural selection is the major force
causing adaptation. By his genius, biology became a science recognized as based on
natural law.
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a production of KTEP, National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Title page of reprints of two of Darwin's works.
Darwin, C. 1859. On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. John Murray, London. Published November 24, 1859.
On The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. First edition, online, Talk.Origins Archives.