What did Charles Darwin learn from malthus and lyell ideas?

Answer 1

Responsible for publishing work in the 18th + 19th century which provided both inspiration and support for natural selection.

Malthus published "An Essay on the Principles of Population" in 1798. Although not concerned with natural selection or evolutionary processes, Malthus put forward the argument that populations in nature will grow exponentially while resources (food) remain relatively stable. His suggestion then, is that population growth is limited by the amoount of resources available. This essay inspired both Darwin and his contemporary, Wallace.

Lyell, a respected geologist, published a book "Principles of Geology". In this work, Lyell refined and demonstrated the argument for uniformitarianism; the idea that the earth's features are a result of long term processes that continue today as they did in the past. This idea of gradual change reinforced Darwin's ideas and observations of natural selection in animal populations, while more importantly Lyell's observations vastly changed concepts of how old the earth was. With these new estimates, the time frame for natural selection was established, and Darwin's theories of gradual change over long periods of time were realised.

a valid scientific theory.

Evolution is a theory, not fact!

Answer 2

Malthus described the effects of a rising human population and a limited supply of food, leading to the "Malthusian catastrophe" in which there were too many people and not enough food. Darwin applied this to all populations and saw that resources (or lack thereof) limit survival.