The Origin of Species: a modern perspective on Darwin’s diff

The Origin of Species: a modern perspective on Darwin’s difficulties on theory John Maynard Smith called the theory outlined in On The Origin Of Species By Means Of Natural Selection (Darwin 1859) ‘the main unifying idea in biology’ (Maynard Smith 1993). Its central concept is simple: organisms produce more offspring than can survive, and those organisms which, by chance, are better adapted to their environment will tend to leave more offspring. If this variation is heritable, …

…of Physics Publishing. Maynard Smith, J. (1993). The theory of evolution. Preface to the Canto edition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Mayr, E. (1982). The growth of biological thought. Harvard: Harvard University Press. Mendel, G. (1866). Versuche über Pflanzenhybriden. Verh. naturf. Ver. Brünn, 4, 3-44. Thomson, W. (1866). The ‘doctrine of uniformity’ in geology briefly refuted. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 5, 512-13. Watson, J.D. and Crick, F.H.C. (1953). Molecular structure of nucleic acids. Nature 171, 737-38. ends