Originally posted by Jorge
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Scientists have indeed been challenging conventional evolutionary theory for quite some time and not only has their work passed peer review, in many cases it has been accepted in whole or in part. Indeed, classical evolutionary theory has been changed over the years as new and more accurate information continues to come in.
- Like when Conrad Waddington proposed developmental evolution (evo-devo) in 1942
- Like when Willi Hennig proposed phylogenetic systematics (cladistics) in 1950
- Like when Motoo Kimura proposed the neutral theory of molecular evolution (genetic drift) in 1968
- Like when Lynn Margulis proposed Endosymbiotic theory in 1970
- Like when Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould proposed punctuated equilibrium in 1973
- Like when Søren Løvtrup proposed Epigenetics in 1974
- Like when Carl Woese proposed horizontal gene transfer in 1977
These are all (and not the only) examples of controversial theories when they came out as they accounted for observed biological changes that did not correspond to the expectations of the neo-Darwinian models derived from the New Synthesis (which itself over-turned pure Darwinian thought and theory and was developed in the mid 1930s through the mid 40s). That is the way science is supposed to work.
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