Lamarck
- 1. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Erin Feaver & Jacquie Brouckxon
- 2. Personal History (1744-1829) Born in in Bazentin-le-Petit, France Joined the French army at 17 when his father passed away While enlisted he studied plants in his free time After 7 years in the army he became injured and was forced to leave He then went on to study medicine and botany He was only 34 when he wrote a book on plants ( Flore Française )
- 3. Lamarck had been working at the royal gardens in France and in 1793 it was then changed over to the National Museum of Natural History. He became one of the 12 professors teaching there and his specialty was on invertebrates (insects and worms). He knew nothing about invertebrates. The next ten years were spent doing field research, collecting specimens and basically creating the foundation of knowledge about invertebrates. After all of this time and dedication Lamarck wrote a series of books on invertebrate zoology and paleontology. Of these, Philosophie zoologique , published in 1809, most clearly states Lamarck's theories of evolution. The first volume of Histoire naturelle des Animaux sans vertèbres was published in 1815, the second in 1822. Lamarck even found time to write papers on physics and meteorology, including some annual compilations of weather data.
- 4. Theories Lamarck believed that all species were in a constant state of advancement. He thought no species ever died out in extinction they just continually evolved and overtime changed into a new species. He believed that the environment played a role in the formation of the species they evolved to fit their habitat. Ex giraffe necks became longer and longer because they had to reach for higher branches on trees for food. He also thought that if a species no longer had use for an organ (because of a new environment) then that organ would disappear and their offspring would inherit that change.
- 5. Contributions His ideas and theories ultimately promoted the theory of evolution and eventually lead to Darwin’s theory of natural selection. From Lamarck’s findings Darwin was able to build off of his work. Even though Lamarck was mocked and not taken seriously throughout his life. “ Lamarck was the first man whose conclusions on the subject excited much attention…he first did the eminent service of arrousing attention to the probability of all changes in the organic, as well as the inorganic world , being the result of law and not of miraculous interposition.”- Charles Darwin
- 6. Other Other naturalist ignored him and were offended that he was promoting the idea that life took it’s form through a natural process because they believed it happened through miraculous interposition or a miracle from God.
- 7. Fun Facts He had four wives Two sons that were never named, one was deaf and one was insane. Buried in a rented grave and after 5 years he was dug up and no one knows what happened to his remains. His full name is: Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck