Protein Synthesis

CGTATACACCTTGTCTGAACGCAATTAAGAGCTCAGTCTTATCTCGA

Historical Influences on Darwin

1. To me, every scientist influenced Charles Darwin in his work, but I would say that Thomas Malthus was the most influential on Charles Darwin’s development of his theory on Natural Selection.

2. Thomas Malthus contributed the theory of population to the scientific community. According to Introduction to Physical Anthropology, this theory states that “population size increases exponentially while food supplies remain relatively stable. Even though humans can reduce constraints on population size by producing more food, Malthus argued that the lack of resources would always be a constant source of “Misery” and famine for humankind” (Jermaine, pg 31).  This theory, for Thomas Malthus, limited itself to the human population. This discovery helped Darwin developing his theory of Natural selection.

            Link: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/thomas-malthus-theory-of-population.html

3.      Malthus’s theory affected Charles Darwin in many ways. Charles Darwin did not limit Malthus’s theory to just humans; he extended this theory to all living organisms. The point in Charles Darwin’s bullet point that was influenced by Thomas Malthus is: Resources are limited. This, in itself, restricts the nonhuman population by growing too much. Whereas humans can produce more food to survive when population increases, nonhumans are restricted to the resources that Mother Nature offers them, which limits its population from increasing too much.

This principle is very important because it allowed Charles Darwin to understand why certain species continued to survive, while others vanished. In short, only the best-fitted species in relation to their environment or resources would continue to persist, while others would eventually die.

4. I believe that Darwin would have developed his theory of natural selection without the influence of Thomas Malthus. For one, Charles Darwin was passionate about his work and was determined in finding the answers to his questions. He would have found them rather by continuing to observe different species or by thinking about his unsolved questions in relation to Natural Selection. It is also possible that another scientist would have reached the same conclusion than Thomas, which would also have influenced Charles Darwin.
5. The attitude of the church has affected Charles Darwin’s work. For example, although he could have presented his ideas of natural selection in 1844, he published his book entitled “On the origin Of Species” only in 1859. The main problem that Charles Darwin, as many other scientists, had to deal with was that his theory of Natural Selection contradicted the traditional values or beliefs of England.  At that time, “it was  generally accepted that all life on earth had been created by God exactly as it existed in the present, and the belief that life-forms couldn’t and didn’t change came to be known as fixities of species” (Jermain, 25).  It was therefore very dangerous for Charles Darwin to share his views with the public as his discovery, once again, contradicted all of the beliefs of the church.