• A scientific theory is defined as a “well-substantiated

explanation of some aspect of the natural world, based on

a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed
through observation and experiment”.
– Theories stem from hypotheses that are investigated using the scientific
method.
• A scientific theory is significantly different than the
common usage for the word “theory”
• Some famous scientific theories include:

Atomic Theory Theory of Relativity Theory of Evolution

John Dalton Albert Einstein Charles Darwin
• Evolution is a scientific theory and a fact
– A fact is an observation that has been
repeatedly confirmed via the scientific
method.
• A law is a descriptive generalization about
how the physical world behaves.
• A hypothesis is a testable statement that
can be used to build inferences and
explanations.
• In science, you can’t get any better than a
theory!
• Before the Theory of Evolution was around,
there were many ideas about the origin of
life of Earth.
Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh Maybe I
should have
• In 1650 he “calculated” the date of creation
carried the 1…
as being Sunday, October 23 4004 BCE
rd

Creationism
• From the Classical times until
long after the Renaissance,
species were considered to be
special creations, fixed for all
time.
- species were thought to be
immutable
 In the beginning of the 17th century,
scientists began to wonder if species
could change or transmute. Bonjour
• Georges Buffon (1707-1788),
a prominent French
naturalist proposed that
species could transmute over
time and these changes
could lead to new organisms.
• He was one of the very first
people to challenge the idea
that species were
unchanging.
• Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), the
founder of biological nomenclature,
proposed that a few species had
formed many new species through
hybridization and interbreeding.
• James Hutton (1726-1797) came up
with actualism, the theory that the
same geological processes occurring
at the present time also occurred in
the past.
– E.g. erosion shapes the landmasses
today and must have done so in the
past also.
• In 1803, Sir Charles Lyell
(1797-1875) formulated the
theory of uniformitarianism,
which states that the Earth’s
surface has always changed
and continues to change
through similar, uniform,
gradual processes.
– Lyell based this theory on the
examination of fossil deposits,
and the processes of erosion
and sedimentation
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) was the
first biologist to recognize that species must
be able to adapt to their environments in
order to survive.
• He believed that species gradually become
more complex/improved and simple species
were continually being created via
spontaneous generation.
• He believed that acquired traits, i.e. changes
in an individual that resulted from interaction
with the environment, could be inherited.
– For example: Giraffes in one generation needed to
stretch their necks to get the leaves from the top of the
trees, and this continual stretching lead to their necks
becoming long. the following generations of giraffes got
their long necks through generations of straining to
reach high branches.
Lamarck believed evolution was driven by
an inner “need” of the organism.
Although Lamarck’s theory was incorrect, he was
the first scientists to recognise the roles that the
environment plays in evolution.
• Charles Darwin (1809-1882) travelled
aboard the HMS Beagle for 5 years as the
ship’s naturalist.
• Darwin collected thousands of specimens
and made some important observations
 Darwin’s Observations
Flora and fauna from different regions were
different than those in England, but they were
similar to those from neighbouring regions.
Darwin began to notice similarities between
the fossils he was finding and extant (currently
living) species.
The finches and other animals on the
Galapagos Islands closely resembled animals
from the west coast of South America.
The finches and tortoises on the Galapagos
looked identical first, but they actually varied
slightly between the islands. Each type of
animal was adapted to the food that they
found on their particular island.
• Years after Darwin returned from his journey, he began to
formulate his Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection,
but he was afraid to publish his work because of the
Church.
• Russel Wallace was about to publish a extremely similarly
themed book, so Darwin rushed to polish and publish his
manuscript.
– The Origin of the Species was published in 1859.
– The word “evolution” was not used once in the entire book.
• The Survival of the Fittest states that competition for
limited resources between individuals of the same species
would select for individuals with favourable traits.
– Organisms with the favourable traits would better survive and
produce more progeny (offspring).
– A growing proportion of the population would have the favourable
traits in later generations and as time passes the whole population
would eventually have the trait.
• For many, the Theory of Evolution is still a taboo subject
for many reasons.
• Two of the reasons why there is still resistance to the
Theory of Evolution are:
1. The mistaken idea that Darwin’s theory of evolution excludes
supernatural involvement in the development of the natural
world
2. The general public’s limited understanding of the scientific
evidence that has made this theory universally accepted in the
scientific community.
• Darwin delayed publication because he knew how
religious people might react to the revolutionary notion
that nature’s huge variety of living beings came about by
natural processes over millions of years – rather than
through direct creation by God in six days
• Pope Pius XII (in 1950) said that discussion of biological evolution
is compatible with Christian faith, as long as God’s intervention is
recognized as necessary for creating the human soul.

• “New scientific knowledge has led us to realize that the theory of

evolution is no longer a mere hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable
that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers,
following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge.
– Pope John Paul II (1996)

• “The Big-Bang, that is placed today at the origin of the world, does
not contradict the divine intervention but exacts it. The evolution
in nature is not opposed to the notion of Creation, because
evolution assume the creation of beings that evolve.”
– Pope Francis (2014)
• Remember, the scientific method involves
developing hypotheses and then testing them to
see if what is actually observed supports a
hypothesis.
• Religion concerns meaning and purpose in the
world and the relations of persons to each other
and to God.
• Religion and science have different goals and
methods.
• Science is not threatened by God; it is enhanced.
God is certainly not threatened by science; He
made it all possible.
• Evolution is the process in which significant changes in
inheritable traits (genes) of a species occur over time,
from one generation to the next.
• Evolution is referred to as decent with modification.
– Individuals do NOT evolve, but populations do.
• Evolution is a change in the number of times specific
genes occur within an interbreeding population.
• There is no implied “improvement” in evolution, but
improvements can occur.
• There are two models to describe
how fast evolution can occur.
• Gradualism
– the original accepted model,
which states that evolution
occurs at a slow and steady
pace.
– Large changes were the
result of many smaller
changes accumulating over
time.
– The fossil record did not
support this theory.
• Punctuated Equilibrium
– In 1972, Eldredge and Gould
suggested this model of evolution
– Evolutionary history contains long
periods of no change (i.e.
equilibrium) that are interrupted by
periods of divergence.
– Most species undergo the majority
of their morphological changes
when they first diverge from the
parent species.
– The fossil record would most likely
show organisms from the
equilibrium stages (which is why
there are not a lot of intermediary
specimens)