Final answer:
The inheritance of acquired characteristics was a concept proposed by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, an early contributor to evolutionary theory.
Step-by-step explanation:
The inheritance of acquired characteristics proposal was put forward by the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck. Lamarck's theory, which predates Darwinian evolution, suggested that traits acquired during an organism's lifetime could be passed down to its offspring. While this concept has since been largely discredited in favor of Darwin's theory of natural selection, it was an important early contribution to evolutionary thought. Some aspects of Lamarck's ideas have been reconsidered in the light of modern scientific discoveries in epigenetics, although in a different context than Lamarck originally proposed.