jan 1, 1773 - James Burnett, Lord Monboddo

Description:

Suggested that humans descended from primates and that creatures can change their characteristics to go along with the environment they live in over long periods of time.
First person to associate language skills evolving from primates and continuing to evolve in early humans. Elaborated on the advantages created by the adaptive change of primates to their environment and even to the evolving complexity of primate social structures (wikipedia).