Charles Darwin

It is commonly thought today that the theory of evolution originated from Darwin in the nineteenth century. However, the idea that species mutate over time has been around for a long time in one form or another. Therefore, by Darwin's time the idea that species change from one type into another was by no means new, but was rejected by most because the proponents of evolution could not come up with a satisfactory mechanism that …

…than any other scientific theory, Darwin's theory of evolution, lends itself to various social interpretations known as "social Darwinism". From the radical left to the radical right, Darwin's theory has been adopted by such people as Marx and Hitler, each of whom saw in it evidence for their own ideology. Alongside the likes of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton, Darwin has rightly earned his place in history as one of the giants of the scientific revolution.