1-158-656 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Medal commemorating Jean Baptiste de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck, French biologist, 20th century. Lamarck's (1744-1829) theory of evolution by inheritance of acquired characteristics was known as Lamarckism or Transformism. His theory was rejected by geneticists from the 1930s onwards, except in the Soviet Union, where it continued to be accepted until the 1960s. Lamarck is also credited with being the first to use the term 'biology'. Reverse of a commemorative medal showing an evolutionary tree with Man at the top.