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The timeline of the evolutionary history of life represents the current scientific theory outlining the major events during the development of life on planet Earth. Dates in this article are consensus estimates based on scientific evidence , mainly fossils .
This timeline of natural history summarizes significant geological and biological events from the formation of the Earth to the arrival of modern humans. Times are listed in millions of years, or megaanni ( Ma ).
5th century BC: The earliest documented mention of a spherical Earth comes from the Greeks in the 5th century BC. [31] It is known that the Indians modeled the Earth as spherical by 300 BC [32] 460 BC: Empedocles describes thermal expansion. [33] Late 5th century BC: Antiphon discovers the method of exhaustion, foreshadowing the concept of a limit.
The natural history of Earth concerns the development of planet Earth from its formation to the present day. [1] [2] Nearly all branches of natural science have contributed to understanding of the main events of Earth's past, characterized by constant geological change and biological evolution.
c. 520 BC – Alcmaeon of Croton distinguished veins from arteries and discovered the optic nerve. c. 450 BC – Sushruta wrote the Sushruta Samhita, redacted versions of which, by the third century AD, describe over 120 surgical instruments and 300 surgical procedures, classify human surgery into eight categories, and introduce cosmetic surgery.
The geologic time scale, proportionally represented as a log-spiral with some major events in Earth's history. A megaannus (Ma) represents one million (10 6) years.. The geologic time scale or geological time scale (GTS) is a representation of time based on the rock record of Earth.
The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as Ga, for gigaannum) and evidence suggests that life emerged prior to 3.7 Ga. [1] [2] [3] The similarities among all known present-day species indicate that they have diverged through the ...
1851 – Léon Foucault uses Foucault pendulum to demonstrate the rotation of the Earth. 1859 – Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species showing that evolution occurs by natural selection. 1861 – Louis Pasteur disproves the theory of spontaneous generation .