Describe the contributions to evolutionary theory made by Linnaeus Cuvier Lyell Lamarck Malthus and Wallace?

Linnaeus developed a hierarchical classification system and binomial nomenclature that laid the groundwork for taxonomy. Cuvier introduced the concept of catastrophism and demonstrated extinction through fossil records, influencing ideas about species change. Lyell's principles of geology emphasized uniformitarianism, suggesting that slow, gradual processes shape the Earth, which supported evolutionary time scales. Lamarck proposed early ideas of evolution through inheritance of acquired characteristics, while Malthus's theory of population growth highlighted competition for resources, influencing Darwin and Wallace's ideas on natural selection, which they independently formulated by studying variation and adaptation in species.