Question

‘Origin of species’ was written by:
A. Oparin
B. Weisman
C. Lamarck
D. Darwin

Answer 1

Hint: ‘Origin of species’ is a book which was published in 1859 on 24th November .It is considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology. The term evolution was introduced by Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). Today "evolution" has come to mean simply "change.

Complete Answer:
There were several naturalists who contributed themselves to study evolution. One of them was Charles Robert Darwin who was the greatest naturalist and philosopher of the nineteenth century.
Charles Darwin wrote the book of ‘Origin of species’ .It was published in 1859 on 34th November.

Charles Darwin's theory is based on the following five principles:
• Overproduction
• Struggle for existence
• Variations and their inheritance
• Survival of fittest
• Natural selection and species formation

Struggle for existence may be intraspecific (between individuals of the same species), interspecific (between different species) and intraspecific (between individual and its environment). There is more competition for survival between the animals of the same species and niche. The greatest competition is between two closely related species of the same niche for food, light and space. Continuity of existence of the fittest was ‘Survival of the fittest’.

The correct answer is (D) i.e. Darwin.

Note: Darwin believed that variations are progressive factors for evolution. He believed that variations which are useful in a particular environment got stabilized giving rise to new species.
Two major drawbacks of Darwin's theory are:
1. He considered minute fluctuating variations as principal factors.
2. He did not distinguish between somatic and germinal variations.