The views of Darwin in geological text book of the end 19th century to the start of the 20h century

K. Makri 1, S. B. Pavlides 1, N. Kastanis 2
1 Department of Geology A.U.Th., kmakri@geo.auth.gr, pavlides@geo.auth.gr,
2 Department of Mathematics A.U.Th., nioka@math.auth.gr

The geological education in Greece has its roots in the second half of the 19th century, but it was established as a «necessary» science at the end of the above century, through confrontation, the most important of them, is the one among the Darwinists and the opponents of the Theory of Evolution of Species. Yet in 1877, the views of Darwin were presented by Professor S. Miliarakis, through the magazine ESTIA, who together with K. Mitsopoulos and N. Germanos, professors at the University of Athens, were supporters of Darwinism. These professors were the authors of books of Geology and geological content of the Higher and Middle Education. Their views were reflected in the handbooks that were taught for years at all levels of education. At the present work the influence of Darwinism in geological education and its development is studied. The Darwin, as a geologist, published a number of geological papers and he is often referred as one by the most important geologists of the 19th century. As sample of the present paper are several geological educational books and articles in literary and scientific journals of the above period, such as the ESTIA and the PROMITHEUS, which reflect the size of the conflict of scientists of the 19th century.