1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 232 Evolution and Genetics

At the 79th British Association for the Advancement of Science, Ridgway met Darwin's third son, Professor Francis, for the first time.

Francis, 62 years old this year, has a white beard and white hair, which tremble when he speaks, making him look very majestic.

Although he is a professor of botany, he obviously has a family background in botany and is well versed in various scientific knowledge.

Especially when it comes to his father's theory of evolution, he knows it like the back of his hand and remembers every word in the book.

His research direction is the application of evolution theory in plants.

Francis did research with his father when he was young, and later sorted out some of Darwin's letters.

It can be said that Darwin's thoughts had a profound influence on him.

At this moment, he was standing on the podium, promoting his father's theory: evolution.

The audience in the audience was fascinated by the performance.

It's not because the theory of evolution itself is so awesome, but because it overturns creationism.

This collision of science and religion is what ordinary people like to see.

In 1859, Darwin published The Origin of Species by combining the strengths of various scholars.

Once the book was published, it immediately caused a sensation in the world.

Everyone was shocked by the theory contained in it.

There are two core ideas of the theory of evolution:
First, species are mutable and organisms evolve.

Later, Huxley, a super 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!

This statement is countless times more damaging to religion than Copernicus' heliocentric theory.

For a time, all religious people criticized the theory of evolution, believing it to be heresy.

Of course, Darwin and Huxley lived in a good era, when religion had lost its dignity and could only speak rhetorically.

As a result, many debates broke out between the two sides in the years that followed.

One side insists on the theory of creationism, believing that God created human beings.

The other side insists on the theory of evolution, believing that humans evolved from animals and are not the "lord of all spirits."

This is the greatness of the theory of evolution.

Although it currently has various flaws.

But it liberates humanity from creationism.

Man is no longer God's vassal!

Li Qiwei thought to himself that if I were given a red coat, I would refute the theory of evolution completely.

Even if I were Pope, I could prove the correctness of creationism.

Second, natural selection is the driving force of biological evolution.

This was later translated by Yan Fu of Huaxia as "survival of the fittest."

This is the so-called theory of natural selection.

Figuratively speaking, the giraffe's neck may not be that long originally, but if its neck was not long, it would starve to death because it could not get food.

So the giraffes with long necks survived, while the ones with short necks died.

After a long time, all giraffes had long necks.

Note that the short-necked giraffe before evolution and the long-necked giraffe after evolution are no longer the same species.

Those short-necked deer were eliminated by nature.

After a long period of natural selection, tiny variations continue to accumulate and eventually become significant differences.

This leads to the formation of subspecies and new species.

For example, an animal suddenly grows a tooth.

With teeth, it can eat more efficiently.

It gained a huge survival advantage and produced more offspring.

So teeth evolved little by little and were passed down.

Animals with teeth are no longer the same species as animals without teeth.

Evolution, the theory of evolution, refers to the evolution of one animal into another animal, not simply multiple organs or multiple functions.

This is not the same concept as the so-called "use it or lose it".

It is worth mentioning that the "Evolution and Ethics" translated by Yan Fu was not Darwin's "Origin of Species", but a part of Huxley's "Evolution and Ethics".

The core of the theory of natural selection is gradualism.

Darwin believed that the evolution process of organisms was gradual and was the result of a long period of natural selection.

The long term here means a very 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 calculated through thermodynamics that the Earth's age is only 100 million years.

Darwin was unable to fight back against the physicists' challenge because he was so poor in mathematics and physics that he didn't know how to refute it.

He only said that sooner or later, people would discover that the age of the earth was much older than Lord Kelvin calculated.

Darwin was right.

Modern geologists have long calculated that the age and history of the Earth is as long as 4.5 billion years, which is enough time to support evolution.

After Darwin proposed the theory of evolution, most scientists of the time agreed with it and believed that organisms were indeed evolving.

It's just on the second point that there is disagreement.

Darwin believed that biological evolution is due to natural selection, and nature is like a sieve that screens out the species it wants.

Other scientists have a different view.

Some people believe that the driving force of evolution is inherent in species, and that species themselves have the ability to become better.

Others believe that evolution is the result of species mutation, that is, a single leap in change can complete the change between species.

In addition, there is catastrophism, which holds that natural disasters drive the evolution of species.

The reason why Darwin's theory of natural selection cannot overwhelm other theories is that it cannot explain one problem.

That is, what are the sources of differential traits for natural selection, such as why giraffes have long necks, why animals have teeth, and so on.

These require the addition of another concept.

From the perspective of later generations, there were two unparalleled 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 genetics.

"Some fucking peas!"

The pea hybridization experiment that made all science students in later generations dizzy was the masterpiece of this great man.

Li Qiwei still shudders when he thinks about it now.

But in real history, Mendel was very frustrated.

In 1859, Darwin published "On the Origin of Species".

Just seven years later, in 7, Mendel published "Experiments on Plant Hybridization" and proposed for the first time the concept of genetic factors and the two major laws of genetics.

In 1909, Danish geneticist Johnson formally proposed the concept of "gene" in his book "Principles of Precision Genetics", replacing the term "genetic factor".

"The Origin of Species" caused a huge sensation when it was published, but no one was interested in Mendel's achievements.

There are several reasons.

First, after the publication of "The Origin of Species", all biologists turned to the discussion of biological evolution.

The experiment of an unknown monk did not attract anyone's attention.

Second, Mendel's ideas were too advanced. He was the first to introduce statistics and mathematics into biology.

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 respond, presumably because he did not read it.

If Darwin had taken a closer look 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 later!
Then scientists independently discovered Mendel's laws of inheritance.

Among them is the famous fruit fly boss, Morgan.

But in the early days, no one had combined Mendel's genetic concept with the theory of evolution.

Most people also did not realize the importance of Mendel's work.

So Mendel was 34 years ahead of his time. How terrifying!

It was not until more than ten years later that British geneticist Fisher re-clarified and improved the theory of evolution.

Modern theory of evolution = Darwin's theory of evolution + Mendel's theory of genetics.

The core of Darwin's theory of evolution is natural selection.

The object of natural selection is the differences at the genetic level among individual living beings.

It is precisely because of gene mutations that the diversity of shapes of organisms appears, allowing nature to select individuals that are fit 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 all biologists currently do not realize this.

Li Qiwei smiled but said nothing.

At this moment, he looked at Francis on the stage, who was debating with another person.

The point of contention between the two sides is precisely about the driving force of evolution.

Francis, of course, supported his father's point of view and kept proving the correctness of natural selection.

He even gave the example of animals evolving teeth, which made Ridgway smile.

However, this obviously did not convince the other side.

The two sides exchanged views in this way, communicating through civilized language and arguing until their faces turned red.

The audience in the audience was very excited.

Even Wilson stopped and listened to their speeches with great interest.

Suddenly, he asked casually, "Bruce, do you think the theory of evolution is correct?"

Li Qiwei smiled faintly and just said, "It has some merits."

Wilson then sighed:

"This is the hottest theory in the field of life sciences right now."

“It feels like it’s more famous than our physics theories.”

"Alas, although the universe is magical, it gave birth to even more magical humans."

"But it is so amazing that humans evolved from monkeys. And what animals did monkeys evolve from?"

“It’s such a hard feeling.”

He thought that Ridgway was like everyone else, who simply believed that natural selection was wrong but still accepted the theory that humans evolved.

Little did people know that Li Qiwei believed that the theory of evolution was completely wrong!

On the contrary, he believes that creationism may be correct.

And he had good reason.

These were all figured out by him after reading papers in his previous life.

Of course, there was no need to say these for the time being, as he was not planning to be in the limelight at this meeting anyway.

It would be hilarious if he refuted evolution and endorsed creationism on the spot.

It is estimated that the current Pope will rush to the UK from Italy immediately, hold up Li Qiwei's hands, and personally confer the title on him.

The greatest genius in physics today has acknowledged the existence of God, yet you foolish mortals are still insisting on the theory of evolution.

This is countless times more shocking than Ridgwell's publication of the theory of relativity, and will definitely cause a sensation worldwide.

Li Qiwei smiled and said to Wilson: "Don't think too much. Maybe when humans really recognize 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'm surprised to meet you here, Professor Bruce!"

(End of this chapter)