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The Origin of Species Encyclopedia Article @ NaturalResearch.org (Natural Research) (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21) |
 | | First published on November 24, 1859, The Origin of Species (full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) by English naturalist Charles Darwin is one of the pivotal works in scientific history, and arguably the pre-eminent work in biology. |
 | | Discoveries showing the extinction of species were explained by catastrophism, the belief that animals and plants were periodically annihilated as a result of natural catastrophes and that their places were taken by new species created ex nihilo (out of nothing). |
 | | Darwin was well aware of the implication the theory had for the origin of humanity and the real danger to his career and reputation as an eminent geologist of being convicted of blasphemy. |
| www.naturalresearch.org /encyclopedia/The_Origin_of_Species (3948 words) |