Chapter 232 Evolution and Gene Theory
At the 79th British Association for the Advancement of Science, Ridgway met Darwin's third son, Professor Francis, for the first time.
Frances, who is 62 years old this year, has white beard and white hair. He trembles when he speaks and looks very majestic.
Although he is a professor of botany, he obviously has a family background and has all kinds of scientific knowledge at his fingertips.
Especially his father's theory of evolution, which is a treasure trove, and he remembers every word in the book.
His research direction is the application of evolution theory to plants.
Francis did research with his father when he was young, and later compiled some of Darwin's letters.
It can be said that Darwin's thoughts had a profound influence on him.
At this moment, he is standing on the podium, promoting his father's theory: the theory of evolution.
The audience in the audience was fascinated by it.
Not because the theory of evolution itself is so awesome, but because it overturns creationism.
This kind of collision between science and religion is what ordinary people like to see.
In 1859, Darwin combined the strengths of various schools and published the book "The Origin of Species".
Once the book was published, it immediately caused a sensation in the world.
Everyone was shocked by the theory in it.
There are two core views of the theory of evolution:
First, species are changeable and organisms evolve.
Later, Huxley, a huge fan of the theory of evolution, tried his best to spread the theory of evolution and raised the famous question of human origins.
Humans evolved from apes!
The lethality of this sentence to religion is countless times greater than that of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory.
For a time, all religious people criticized the theory of evolution and considered it a heretical theory.
Of course, Darwin and Huxley lived in a good era. Religion in this era has lost its majesty and can only be talked about.
As a result, the two sides continued to have many debates in the years to come.
One side insists on the theory of divine creation and believes that God created human beings.
The other side insists on the theory of evolution and believes that humans evolved from animals and are not the "master of all spirits".
This is the greatness of the theory of evolution.
Although it currently has various shortcomings.
But it liberated humanity from creationism.
Man is no longer a vassal of God!
Li Qiwei thought of this and thought that if he put me in a red coat, I would guarantee that he would completely refute the theory of evolution.
Even if I were the pope, I could prove that creationism is correct.
Second, natural selection is the driving force of biological evolution.
This article was later translated by Yan Fu of China as "natural selection, survival of the fittest."
This is the so-called theory of natural selection.
To put it figuratively, the giraffe's neck may not be that long originally, but if its neck is not long, it will starve to death because it cannot eat food.
So the giraffe with the long neck survived, while the giraffe with the short neck died.
After a long time, all giraffes have long necks.
Note that giraffes with short necks before evolution and giraffes with long necks after evolution are no longer the same species.
Those short-necked deer have been naturally eliminated.
After a long period of natural selection, small variations accumulate and eventually become significant differences.
This results in the formation of subspecies and new species.
For another example, an animal suddenly grows a tooth.
With teeth, it can eat more efficiently.
It gained a huge survival advantage and reproduced more offspring.
So the teeth evolved bit by bit and were passed on.
Animals with teeth are no longer the same species as animals without teeth.
The theory of evolution, the theory of evolution, refers to the evolution of one animal into another animal, rather than simply multiple organs and multiple functions.
This is not the same concept as the so-called "use it or lose it".
It is worth mentioning that the "On the Evolution of Heaven" translated by Yan Fu is not Darwin's "On the Origin of Species", but a part of Huxley's "Evolution and Ethics".
The core of the theory of natural selection is gradual change.
Darwin believed that the evolutionary process of organisms is gradual and follows a long period of natural selection.
The long term here is a long, long time.
For example, the giraffe's neck did not evolve in one year or ten years, but took hundreds of millions of years.
Because of this, Lord Kelvin once opposed the theory of evolution.
Because he used thermodynamic methods to calculate that the age of the earth is only 100 million years.
Darwin was unable to fight back against the physicist's challenge because he was too poor in mathematics and physics and did not know how to refute.
He only said that sooner or later, people will find that the age of the earth is much older than Lord Kelvin calculated.
Darwin was right.
Modern geologists have already calculated that the age and history of the earth are a full 4.5 billion years, which is enough time to support evolution.
After Darwin proposed the theory of evolution, most scientists at the time agreed with it. They believed that living things were indeed evolving.
Only on the second point, there are differences.
Darwin believed that biological evolution is due to natural selection. Nature is like a sieve, filtering out the species it wants.
Other scientists have a different view.
Some people believe that the driving force for evolution is inherent in the species, and that the species itself has the ability to change for the better.
Other people believe that evolution is the result of species mutation, that is, a jump change can complete the change between species.
In addition, there is catastrophism, which believes that natural disasters promote the evolution of species.
The reason why Darwin’s theory of natural selection cannot overwhelm other theories is because it cannot explain a single problem.
That is what the source of the differential traits used for natural selection is. For example, why do giraffes grow long necks, why do animals have teeth, etc.
These require the addition of another concept.
From the perspective of later generations, there were two peerless heroes in the field of life sciences in the 19th century.
One is Darwin who proposed the theory of evolution, and the other is Mendel who proposed the theory of genes.
“Some fucking peas!”
The pea hybridization experiment that made all future science students dizzy was the masterpiece of this boss.
Li Qiwei still trembles when he thinks about it now.
But in real history, Mendel was very aggrieved.
In 1859, Darwin published "The Origin of Species".
Only 7 years later, in 1866, Mendel published "Experiments on Plant Hybridization" and proposed the concept of genetic factors and the two major laws of genetics for the first time.
In 1909, Danish geneticist Johnson formally proposed the concept of "gene" in his book "Principles of Precision Genetics", replacing the term genetic factors.
"The Origin of Species" caused a huge sensation when it was published, but Mendel's results were ignored.
There are several reasons.
First, after the publication of "The Origin of Species", biologists all turned to the discussion of biological evolution.
The experiment of an unknown monk did not attract anyone's attention at all.
Second, Mendel’s ideas were too advanced. He introduced statistics and mathematics into biology for the first time.
For biologists at the time, this was like introducing quantum mechanics to Newton.
Those biologists couldn't even understand Mendel's papers.
Mendel also sent the results to Darwin, but the latter did not get any reply, presumably he did not read it.
If Darwin had taken it seriously and combined the concept of genes with the theory of evolution, it would have been even more perfect.
In real history, Mendel’s work was not rediscovered until 1900, a full 34 years in between!
Then scientists independently discovered Mendel's laws of inheritance.
This includes the famous fruit fly boss, Morgan.
But in the early days, no one combined Mendel’s gene concept with the theory of evolution.
Most people also do not realize the importance of Mendel's work.
So it is equivalent to Mendel being 34 years ahead of his time. How terrible this is.
It took more than ten years until the British geneticist Fisher re-clarified and improved the theory of evolution.
Modern evolution theory = Darwinian evolution + Mendelian genetic theory.
The core of Darwin's theory of evolution is natural selection.
The object of natural selection is the difference in the genetic level of individual living beings.
It is precisely because of genetic variation that leads to the diversity of shapes in living things, and nature can select individuals suitable for survival.
Essentially, genetic variation is the basis of natural selection.
In a word, genes play an extremely important role in the theory of evolution.
But currently all biologists are not aware of this.
Li Qiwei smiled and said nothing.
At this moment, he looked at Francis on the stage, who was debating with another person.
The argument between the two sides is precisely about the power of evolution.
Of course, Francis supported his father’s point of view and kept proving the correctness of natural selection.
He even gave an example of animals evolving teeth, which made Li Qiwei smile knowingly.
However, this obviously did not convince the other party.
The two sides just went back and forth like this, communicating through civilized language, and the debate was red-faced.
The audience in the audience cheered.
Even Wilson stopped and listened to the two men's speeches with interest.
Suddenly, he asked casually: "Bruce, do you think the theory of evolution is correct?"
Li Qiwei smiled faintly and just said: "There are merits."
< br>Wilson then sighed:
“This is currently the hottest theory in the field of life sciences.”
"I feel that my fame is greater than our theories of physics."
"Hey, although the universe is magical, it has given birth to even more magical human beings."
"But such magical human beings, It actually evolved from monkeys, and even what animals did monkeys evolve from? "
"This feeling is really uncomfortable."
He thought Li Qiwei and others. Just like people, they simply believe that natural selection is wrong, but they still agree with the theory that humans evolved.
As everyone knows, Li Qiwei believed that the theory of evolution was simply wrong!
Instead, he believed that creationism might be correct.
And, he has good reasons.
These were all figured out by himself after reading papers in his previous life.
Of course, there is no need to say this for the time being. Anyway, he is not planning to show off at this meeting.
It would be great fun if he refutes evolution on the spot and favors creationism.
It is estimated that the current Pope will come to the UK from Italy immediately, hold up Li Qiwei’s hands and canonize him personally.
The greatest genius in physics today has acknowledged the existence of God, but you ignorant mortals still insist on the theory of evolution.
This is countless times more shocking than Li Qiwei's publication of the theory of relativity, and it will definitely cause a sensation around the world.
Li Qiwei smiled and said to Wilson: "Don't think so much, maybe after human beings really realize all their own secrets, they will face greater terror."
Just as the two were discussing the theory of evolution, a joyful voice suddenly interrupted Li Qiwei.
“I actually met you here, Professor Bruce!”
(End of this chapter)