3 thinkers, books, and ideas connected to this field.
English naturalist who developed the theory of evolution by natural selection — publishing On the Origin of Species (1859) — after a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle and 20 years of research — demonstrating that all life descends from common ancestors through a process of variation, inheritance, and selection.
Roman military commander and encyclopedist who wrote the Naturalis Historia — a 37-volume encyclopedia of all ancient knowledge about the natural world — and who died in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE while attempting to rescue friends.
Charles Darwin's 1859 masterwork arguing for evolution by natural selection — the most consequential scientific book ever published — demonstrating through accumulated evidence that all species share common ancestors and that adaptation arises through differential reproductive success without design.