Understanding in Time: Evollution

Evolution
At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, there was a growing realization that living things changed through time. Ideas about what actuated those changes crystallized into a formal theory through the insights of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who (in the mid-19th century) both suggested that the dynamism of life and its evolutionary changes were the result of natural selection. Within a few years of the publication of Darwin's book, the evolutionary change of living things had been firmly established, despite the continuing attack of those who clung to a pre-Darwinian world view. Acceptance of the idea of natural selection driven by the inheritance of variable characteristics came later. By the mid-20th century, the genetic basis of heredity, initiated by the plant breeding experiments of Gregor Mendel, explained variation and its inheritance in the context of an evolving population of individuals. In 1953, nearly a century after the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, James Watson and Francis Crick identified DNA as the molecular structure through which the genetic code forms the basis of inheritance. Guided by recent discoveries in the physical sciences, our understanding regarding the nature of our world advanced prodigiously during the 20th century. Besides astonishing developments in mathematics, our knowledge of the world of physics expanded into realms unimagined in previous centuries. Our new understanding calls on concepts of quantum theory to describe the particles of the material world of which everything in the Universe is made. Together with Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and remarkable instrumental observations gathered from distant regions of space, an unprecedented view of ourselves and our Universe has emerged. Quantum mechanics, relativity, and cosmology characterize a microcosm which changes in rhythm with the changing macrocosm, with a unifying pattern pervading all. Included in our newly acquired understanding are: The Universe has not existed forever, but had a distinct beginning about 14 billion years ago. All stars advance through cycles of birth, maturity, and death - much like living forms on Earth. Innumerable stars have perished to create the matter now constituting our world. We ourselves are made of atoms that were fused in the cores of now-expired stars. Life probably arises naturally from nonliving matter, given the proper ingredients and sufficient time. From this new understanding, it has become possible to appreciate how all things - from atoms to roses, from galaxies to people - are related. At the core of this emerging reality lies unrelenting change, the common basis in evolution. From stars and planets to every aspect of life itself, evolution is inherent in all objects, societies, civilizations, and institutions.

At the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries, there was a growing realization that living things changed through time. Ideas about what actuated those changes crystallized into a formal theory through the insights of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, who (in the mid-19th century) both suggested that the dynamism of life and its evolutionary changes were the result of natural selection. Within a few years of the publication of Darwin's book, the evolutionary change of living things had been firmly established, despite the continuing attack of those who clung to a pre-Darwinian world view. Acceptance of the idea of natural selection driven by the inheritance of variable characteristics came later.
By the mid-20th century, the genetic basis of heredity, initiated by the plant breeding experiments of Gregor Mendel, explained variation and its inheritance in the context of an evolving population of individuals. In 1953, nearly a century after the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, James Watson and Francis Crick identified DNA as the molecular structure through which the genetic code forms the basis of inheritance.

Guided by recent discoveries in the physical sciences, our understanding regarding the nature of our world advanced prodigiously during the 20th century. Besides astonishing developments in mathematics, our knowledge of the world of physics expanded into realms unimagined in previous centuries. Our new understanding calls on concepts of quantum theory to describe the particles of the material world of which everything in the Universe is made. Together with Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and remarkable instrumental observations gathered from distant regions of space, an unprecedented view of ourselves and our Universe has emerged. Quantum mechanics, relativity, and cosmology characterize a microcosm which changes in rhythm with the changing macrocosm, with a unifying pattern pervading all. Included in our newly acquired understanding are:

The Universe has not existed forever, but had a distinct beginning about 14 billion years ago.

All stars advance through cycles of birth, maturity, and death - much like living forms on Earth.

Innumerable stars have perished to create the matter now constituting our world.

We ourselves are made of atoms that were fused in the cores of now-expired stars.

Life probably arises naturally from nonliving matter, given the proper ingredients and sufficient time.

From this new understanding, it has become possible to appreciate how all things - from atoms to roses, from galaxies to people - are related. At the core of this emerging reality lies unrelenting change, the common basis in evolution. From stars and planets to every aspect of life itself, evolution is inherent in all objects, societies, civilizations, and institutions.