Jean Baptiste Lamarck August 1744 December 18 th

Jean Baptiste Lamarck August 1744 December 18 th 1829

Early Life • Born Benzentin-le-Petit • Was sent to Jesuit school in Amines • Received classical education until 15 • At age 15 father died and joined the military

Early life cont. • While in military began to study plants • At age 24 left military and studied medicine in Paris for 4 years • At medical school became interested in Meteorology, chemistry, and shell collecting

Plants of France • In 1779 Lamarck published his first of many books Flore François or Plants of France a 3 volume set • Was elected into the Academy of Sciences where he became an Associate Botanist in 1783 • Wrote The King’s Garden in 1788 and became Chair of botany and keeper of the herbarium

Invertebrate Zoology • His biggest contributions were in the fields of invertebrate zoology and evolution • Published Natural History of Animals without backbones from 1815 -1822

Work with Evolution • Accepted view that animals in nature were arranged on one continuous natural scale • Meaning that when life started all other life forms were a result of time, and environment interaction • Ideas initially presented in 1809 in Zoological Philosophy

Revolutionary Ideas • In his books he was the first person to use the word biology in the modern sense • In geology talked about uniformitarianism which lead the way for continental drift • His theories of evolution were a large protest against current thought

Lamarckism • In his volumes he said environment was controlled by three biological laws • Organ development • Law of use and disuse • Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Lamarckism’s forces • In Lamarckism there are two main forces driving evolution • The complexifiying Force • And the Adaptive force

Lamarck’s Legacy • While his theory is generally thought of as False Lamarck made the first theory of evolution • Darwin took many of Lamarck’s ideas into account when coming up with natural selection

Lamarck’s Legacy cont. • Major works – Plants of France – The Kings Garden – Natural History of Animals without backbones • Major Theories – Lamarckism – Use/Disuse – Inheritance of acquired traits

References • http: //www. ucmp. berkeley. edu/history/lamarck. html • http: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Jean-Baptiste_Lamarck • http: //www. mnsu. edu/emuseum/information/biography/klmno /lemarck_jean. html • http: //evolution. berkeley. edu/evolibrary/article/_0/history_09 • http: //www. nndb. com/people/275/000057104/