AST 111 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Louis Pasteur, Georges Pouchet
6 Jun 2020
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Challenged by increasing evidence for fossil organisms very different from those alive today. An idea with its origins in antiquity. New life is continually appearing from inanimate matters. Jean baptiste lamarck nature in producing in succession every species of animal and beginning with the least perfect or simplest to end her work with the most perfect has gradually complicated their structure . Evolution is a process of moving up the ladder of life. New life must be continually created to fill the bottom rungs of the ladder. Demonstrated that apparent spontaneous generation seen by previous experimenters (e. g. pouchet) was due to microscopic organisms carried in the air (bacteria) No longer a progression up a ladder. Simple organisms can be evolutionary successful as well as complex ones. Tree of life originating from a single origin in the distant past. Oparin and haldane made the first detailed scientific studies of the origin of life.
