History of biology

From ArticleWorld

The history of biology extends over a long time. The description and understanding of life has always been important to man. The word biology found its beginnings independently by three scientists in the early 1800s. The word is taken from the Greek bios meaning life and –logy meaning the science of life.

Biology in the past

In ancient times, there was knowledge of plants and animals as this was necessary to hunting and survival in general. This means that biology really predates the written history of humans. Some aspects of the specialized knowledge possessed by early man include the knowledge of pollination in several ancient civilizations. Some texts have also been found dealing with aspects of animal life. These include the description of bird life, as well was the metamorphosis of insects and frogs. Anatomy and physiological knowledge were also believed to be studied by the Egyptians and Babylonians.

Aristotle is one of the most well known natural philosophers of ancient times. He made many observations on the habitats and attributes of organisms around him. He was succeeded by Theophrastus who focused mainly on plants.

In medieval times, there was also some interest in biology by persons in the medical field. They began to show interest in animals. Several books were written by Arab and German scholars. Albertus Magnus wrote several books on plants and animals and he focused mainly on the areas of plant propagation and reproduction in plants and animals. During the Renaissance interest was generated in the bodies of animals and humans. The physiology of the body was studied in detail and comparative works done to compare animals to humans.

Modern biology

Modern biologists in the 17th century described things such as how blood circulates through the body and the hearts role in this process. This was also the time when inventions such as the microscope came into being and opened up new areas in biology. Plant studies were also furthered and documented. A vast amounts of firsts occurred in this time with the first description of the red blood cell as well as bacteria, to name a few. Classification schemes were also proposed during this time and into the 18th century.

The 19th century opened the doors to a new branch of biology when the first organic molecule, urea, was artificially synthesized. This in combination with the discovery of the first enzyme led to the science of biochemistry. Other fields such as bacteriology began to be formed as well. The cell theory also saw the beginnings of cell biology. Work by Charles Darwin introduced the concept of natural selection a key mechanism in evolution. The field of genetics also had its beginnings in this time by Gregor Mendel who formulated the laws of inheritance.

In the 20th century key findings include the identification of the chromosome as the site of genes important in heredity as well as the development of the modern synthesis, population genetics and many other fields. Metabolic pathways of life, such as the citric acid cycle and glycolysis were worked out and the understanding of mitochondria as power generators in cells was also determined. The structure of DNA was also discovered and the nature of the genetic code revealed. Work continues in biology with new research being conducted even today.