Describe the contribution Charles Darwin, August Weismann, Gregor Essay

Describe the contribution Charles Darwin, August Weismann, Gregor Mendel and Frances Crick have made to the study of genetics - Essay Example This theory proposed that all the life on planet Earth, human or non-human is interrelated and has roots to a common ancestor. This means that the life indeed has evolved from non-life i.e. the simple creatures led to the evolvement of complex creatures over time. This all was possible because random genetic mutations were taking place in the genetic code of the living organism. So every complex organism, for instance, the human being, was formed after several successful modifications and mutations took place in the earlier generations. By the natural selection process, the dominant traits would be preserved and carried forwarded to the future generations. As the dominant traits were the beneficial ones they would be transferred ahead, where as the recessive traits would be the non-beneficial ones and they would fail to transfer to the next generation. With this transference of beneficial mutations, the preservation of the functional advantages is there in the offspring. The idea was that such a mechanism existed where any changes in the external stimuli would lead to a change in the external organ and external tissues. This would be further transferred on to the reproductive organs consequently affecting the offspring. Further, the process of natural selection, as proposed by Darwin is a gradual and time-consuming process, which never takes any quantum lea ps. (Darwin, Glick & Kohn 1996) So today, our biological development can be understood by understanding Darwin’s theory. In Darwin’s time, the genetic mutations were just a philosophy. His ideas led to further research which helped the scientists understand that biological development does involve structural changes in the chromosomes. Then August Weismann was a German biologist whose work led him to be one of the pioneers in the study of genetics. Weismann‘s major work revolved around embryonic and postembryonic development of insects. His work was greatly