Article ID: CBB001214551

Darwin, Malthus, Süssmilch, and Euler: The Ultimate Origin of the Motivation for the Theory of Natural Selection (2014)

unapi

It is fairly well known that Darwin was inspired to formulate his theory of natural selection by reading Thomas Malthus's Essay on the Principle of Population. In fact, by reading Darwin's notebooks, we can even locate one particular sentence which started Darwin thinking about population and selection. What has not been done before is to explain exactly where this sentence -- essentially Malthus's ideas about geometric population growth -- came from. In this essay we show that eighteenth century mathematician Leonhard Euler is responsible for this sentence, and in fact forms the beginning of the logical chain which leads to the creation of the theory of natural selection. We shall examine the fascinating path taken by a mathematical calculation, the many different lenses through which it was viewed, and the path through which it eventually influenced Darwin.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001214551/

Similar Citations

Book Creath, Richard; Maienschein, Jane; (2000)
Biology and epistemology (/isis/citation/CBB000110573/)

Book Ruse, Michael; Travis, Joseph; (2009)
Evolution: The First Four Billion Years (/isis/citation/CBB001232307/)

Article Ian Hesketh; (2021)
Narratives of Charles Darwin Down Under (/isis/citation/CBB437714128/)

Book Stén, Johan C. E.; (2014)
A Comet of the Enlightenment: Anders Johan Lexell's Life and Discoveries (/isis/citation/CBB001500577/)

Book Donohue, Kathleen; (2011)
Darwin's Finches: Readings in the Evolution of a Scientific Paradigm (/isis/citation/CBB001033158/)

Article Rowlinson, Matthew; (2011)
Foreign Bodies; or, How Did Darwin Invent the Symptom? (/isis/citation/CBB001035039/)

Article Beer, Gillian; (2009)
Darwin and the Uses of Extinction (/isis/citation/CBB001030096/)

Book Gardiner, Brian; Milner, Richard; Morris, Mary; (2008)
Survival of the Fittest: A Special Issue of the Linnean Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Darwin-Wallace Theory of Evolution (/isis/citation/CBB001035140/)

Book Stott, Rebecca; (2003)
Darwin and the Barnacle (/isis/citation/CBB000320242/)

Article Naomi Beck; (2016)
The spontaneous market order and evolution (/isis/citation/CBB825221730/)

Article Curtis N. Johnson; (2019)
Charles Darwin, Richard Owen, and Natural Selection: A Question of Priority (/isis/citation/CBB684893999/)

Chapter Rupke, Nicolaas; (2010)
Darwin's Choice (/isis/citation/CBB001020301/)

Article Thierry Hoquet; (2021)
Pluralizing Darwin: Making Counter-Factual History of Science Significant (/isis/citation/CBB581465929/)

Article Brink-Roby, Heather; (2009)
Natural Representation: Diagram and Text in Darwin's On the Origin of Species (/isis/citation/CBB001030093/)

Chapter Engels, Eve-Marie; (2009)
Charles Darwins geheimnisvolle Revolution (/isis/citation/CBB001023713/)

Article Kathryn Tabb; (2016)
Darwin at Orchis Bank: Selection after the Origin (/isis/citation/CBB704610076/)

Authors & Contributors
Amy Way
Stén, Johan C. E.
van Wyhe, John
Travis, Joseph
Tabb, Kathryn
Stott, Rebecca
Concepts
Natural selection
Biology
Evolution
Discovery in science
Darwinism
Human evolution
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
Places
Great Britain
Blue Mountains (New South Wales)
Tasmania (Australia)
New South Wales (Australia)
Malay; Malaysia
Finland
Institutions
Oxford University
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment