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BIOGRAPHIES OF GREAT SCIENTISTS
Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet Chevalier de. Biography of a scientist
Directory / Biographies of great scientists
In 1909, there was a great celebration in Paris when a monument to the great French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck was unveiled to commemorate the centenary of the publication of his famous work "Philosophy of Zoology". One of the bas-reliefs of this monument depicts a touching scene: a blind old man sits in an armchair in a sad pose - this is Lamarck himself, who lost his sight in old age, and a young girl stands nearby - his daughter, who consoles her father and addresses him with the words: "Offspring will be admire you, my father, it will avenge you." Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet Chevalier de Lamarck was born on August 1, 1744 in France, in a small town. He was the eleventh child in an impoverished aristocratic family. His parents wanted to make him a priest and assigned him to a Jesuit school, but after the death of his father, sixteen-year-old Lamarck left school and joined the army in 1761 as a volunteer. There he showed great courage and received the rank of officer. After the end of the war, Lamarck came to Paris, a neck injury forced him to leave military service. He began to study medicine. But he was more interested in the natural sciences, especially botany. Receiving a small pension, he entered one of the banking houses to earn money. After a number of years of intensive studies, the hardworking and talented young scientist wrote a large work in three volumes - "Flora of France", published in 1778. It describes many plants and provides guidance for identifying them. This book made Lamarck famous, and the following year he was elected a member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. At the academy, he successfully continued to engage in botany and gained great authority in this science. In 1781 he was appointed chief botanist of the French king. Another passion of Lamarck was meteorology. From 1799 to 1810 he published eleven volumes devoted to this science. He studied physics and chemistry. In 1793, when Lamarck was already close to fifty, his scientific activity changed radically. The Royal Botanic Gardens, where Lamarck worked, was transformed into the Museum of Natural History. There were no free departments of botany in the museum, and he was offered to study zoology. It was difficult for an elderly man to leave his old job and move on to a new one, but Lamarck's great diligence and brilliant abilities overcame everything. About ten years later he became the same expert in the field of zoology as he was in botany. A lot of time passed, Lamarck grew old, crossed the line of sixty years. He now knew almost everything about animals and plants that was known to the science of that time. Lamarck decided to write a book that would not describe individual organisms, but would explain the laws of development of living nature. Lamarck wanted to show how animals and plants appeared, how they changed and developed, and how they reached their present state. Speaking in the language of science, he wanted to show that animals and plants were not created as they are, but developed by virtue of the natural laws of nature, that is, to show the evolution of the organic world. It was not an easy task. Only a few scientists before Lamarck had speculated about the variability of species, but only Lamarck, with his enormous store of knowledge, managed to solve this problem. Therefore, Lamarck is deservedly considered the creator of the first evolutionary theory, the predecessor of Darwin. Lamarck published his book in 1809 and called it "Philosophy of Zoology", although it deals not only with animals, but also with all wildlife. It should not be thought that all those interested in science at that time were delighted with this book and understood that Lamarck had set a great task for scientists. In the history of science, it often happened that great ideas remained misunderstood by contemporaries and received recognition only many years later. So it happened with the ideas of Lamarck. Some scientists did not pay any attention to his book, others laughed at it. Napoleon, to whom Lamarck took it into his head to present his book, scolded him so much that he could not refrain from tears. At the end of his life, Lamarck went blind and, forgotten by everyone, died on December 18, 1829, eighty-five years old. Only his daughter Cornelia remained with him. She took care of him until her death and wrote under his dictation. The words of Cornelia, imprinted on the monument to Lamarck, turned out to be prophetic: posterity really appreciated the works of Lamarck and recognized him as a great scientist. But this did not happen soon, many years after Lamarck's death, after Darwin's remarkable work On the Origin of Species appeared in 1859. Darwin confirmed the correctness of the evolutionary theory, proved it on many facts and made him remember his forgotten predecessor. The essence of Lamarck's theory is that animals and plants were not always the way we see them now. In times gone by, they were arranged differently and much more simply than they are now. Life on Earth arose naturally in the form of very simple organisms. Over time, they gradually changed, improved, until they reached the modern, familiar state. Thus, all living beings descend from ancestors unlike them, more simply and primitively arranged. Why, then, did the organic world, or, in other words, all animals and plants, not stand still, like a watch without winding, but move forward, develop, change, as it is changing now? Lamarck answered this question as well. The development of plants and animals depends on two main reasons. The first reason, according to Lamarck, is that the whole organic world itself strives to continuously change and improve - this is its inherent internal property, which Lamarck called the desire for progress. The second reason on which, according to Lamarck, the evolution of the organic world depends, is the effect on organisms of the environment in which they live. This environment, or living environment, is made up of the impact on animals and plants of food, light, heat, moisture, air, soil, etc. This environment is very diverse and changeable, therefore it affects organisms in various ways. In general terms, the environment affects the organic world both directly and indirectly. Lamarck believed that plants and the lowest animals change under the influence of the environment directly and directly, acquiring one form or another, one or another property. For example, a plant grown in good soil takes on a completely different appearance than a plant of the same species grown in bad soil. A plant grown in the shade is not like a plant grown in the light, etc. Animals change in a different way. Under the influence of changing environments, they develop various new habits and skills. And habit, through constant repetition and exercise of the various organs, develops these organs. For example, an animal that constantly lives in the forest and is forced to climb trees will develop grasping limbs, and an animal that is constantly forced to move long distances will develop strong legs with hooves, etc. This will no longer be direct, but indirect. the influence of the environment - through habits. In addition, Lamarck believed that the characteristics that organisms acquire under the influence of the environment can be inherited. Thus, two reasons (on the one hand, the innate desire for improvement, on the other hand, the influence of the environment) create, according to Lamarck's teaching, the whole diversity of the organic world. From the point of view of modern biology, much of Lamarck's theory is outdated. For example, modern science denies that there is some mysterious and inexplicable striving for perfection in the organic world. Darwin explained differently the relatively expedient structure of the body of animals and plants and how they adapt to the environment. He considered natural selection to be the main cause of evolution. The influence of environmental conditions on organisms, which occupies a large place in the teachings of Lamarck, is also recognized by modern biology. Darwin, towards the end of his life, admitted that he did not pay sufficient attention to the change in organisms under the influence of their environment. Modern biology attaches great importance to the influence of the environment. However, Lamarck's main merit is not in explaining the causes of evolution, but in the fact that he was the first, half a century before Darwin, to propose a theory of the natural origin and development of the organic world. Lamarck's ideas about the influence of the environment on organisms are interesting not only for the history of biology. In our time, they have also acquired practical significance: by the influence of the environment, people began to change the properties of plants and animals. Author: Samin D.K.
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Comments on the article: Diana Thanks a lot for the article! I learned a lot of interesting things and even discovered something new [up] [;)]
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