1.) I believe that Charles Lyell, the British lawyer/geologist, had the biggest impact on Darwin as they both held a belief in uniformitarianism.
2.) Charles Lyell is known for his work in the field of geology. He wrote many books on geology that popularized the idea of the Earth changing due to slow moving processes and forces. This theory was also known as uniformitarianism.
3.) The point most effected by Lyell in respect to Charles Darwin's work is the point: If the environment changes, the traits that are helpful or adaptive to that environment will be different. Charles Lyell made popular the belief that Earth was gradually changing due to slow-moving processes that supported Darwin's theory of natural selection. The slow changing of the environment allowed for the idea that some species used to be more successful and after the environment underwent changes, these same species were not as "fit" to continue their species. Darwin originally lacked a time frame for his theory of evolution until he accepted Lyell's ideas on a slowly changing environment.
4.) I believe that Darwin may have been able to come up with his theory but it would lack the time frame of how long it took for a species to evolve. With Lyell's work on explaining the Earth being shaped by gradual processes, Darwin was able to fit in his ideas of gradual change among a population.
5.) The church didn't affect Darwin or his eventual publication very much. Although many clergymen were quick to dismiss the theory, many other clergyman were able to accept it as part of God's design for natural selection. The Vatican never officially banned the book or made a statement in regards to his book until recently, some 150+ years later.
