For this blog post I will highlight the major influence that Georges Cuvier had on Darwin's formulation of the theory of Natural Selection.
Georges Cuvier is widely regarded as the "Father of Paleontology" by members of the scientific community (for good reason). Cuvier was responsible for establishing extinction as a fact through his extensive observations of numerous fossilized animals. Cuvier also founded the idea that a species' lineage can be more than one. He was also one of the founding fathers of comparative anatomy, which led to the discovery of analogous structures and other anatomical similarities of living beings.
(http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/cuvier.html)
Cuvier was a devout Protestant, he actively spoke against the initial implications of evolution that his peers, during that time period, presented. If Cuvier was alive during Darwin's time, Cuvier would have been Darwin's nemesis. However, a lot of Cuvier's research were instrumental in Darwin's discovery of natural selection. "If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different." Through his observations of fossils and comparisons with their living counterparts, Cuvier (unknowingly) found evidence of speciation. He also observed this first hand when each differing stratum (underground level) contained fossils that looked similar but had different traits.
The basis of natural selection is survival of the fittest. Cuvier was the pioneering researcher that proved that extinction was indeed a fact. Had it not been for this confirmation, Darwin would not have had a solid foundation for his theories. The purpose of evolution is to combat extinction. Had extinction been outside our sphere of thought during that time, Darwin may have never formulated such a grandiose theory or even if he did, it would have just been seen as blatant heresy.
The church was certainly Darwin's main cause of distress during his time as a researcher. It's safe to say that the church was one of the key opposing figures to his studies. Even contemporarily, evolution and creationism are still widely debated. However I do believe that the church's opposition led Darwin to step out of his comfort zone, he went where no other thinker had gone before. He made sure that he gathered enough compelling evidence in order to give the best case he possibly could, in order to avoid being shrugged off as a man overdue for Bedlam.
