The history of biology dates as far back as the rise of various civilization as classic philosophers did their own ways of biology as a system of understanding life. Main articles: Life All organisms (viruses not included) consist of cells, which in turn, are based on a common carbon-based biochemistry. ...

In the West, from antiquity up to the time of the Scientific Revolution, inquiry into the workings of the universe was known as natural philosophy, and those engaged in it were known as natural philosophers. ... In the West, from antiquity up to the time of the Scientific Revolution, inquiry into the workings of the universe was known as natural philosophy, and those engaged in it were known as natural philosophers. ... The historiography of science is the study of the history of science (often overlapping with the history of technology, history of medicine, and history of mathematics), generally in an academic context as part of the discipline of the history of science and technology (HST), history and philosophy of science (HPS... The sociology and philosophy of science, as well as the entire field of science studies, have in the 20th century been preoccupied with the question of large-scale patterns and trends in the development of science, and asking questions about how science works both in a philosophical and practical sense. ... The Ptolemaic system of celestial motion, from Harmonia Macrocosmica, 1661. ... In prehistoric times, advice and knowledge was passed from generation to generation in an oral tradition. ... The Middle Ages: Western World Map of Medieval Universities See Also: Medieval medicine, Medieval philosophy With the loss of the Western Roman Empire, much of Europe lost contact with the knowledge of the past. ... In the history of science, the scientific revolution was the period that roughly began with the discoveries of Kepler, Galileo, and others at the dawn of the 17th century, and ended with the publication of the Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica in 1687 by Isaac Newton. ... Astronomy is probably the oldest of the natural sciences, dating back to antiquity, with its origins in the religious practices of pre-history: vestiges of these are still found in astrology, a discipline long interwoven with astronomy, and not completely separate from it until about 1750‑1800 in the Western... Portrait of Monsieur Lavoisier and his Wife, by Jacques-Louis David The history of chemistry may be said to begin with the distinction of chemistry from alchemy by Robert Boyle in his work The Skeptical Chymist (1661). ... Earth science (also known as geoscience, the geosciences or the Earth Sciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. ... The growth of physics has brought not only fundamental changes in ideas about the material world, mathematics and philosophy, but also, through technology, a transformation of society. ... The anthropologist Eric Wolf once characterized anthropology as the most scientific of the humanities, and the most humanistic of the social sciences. ... The term economics was coined around 1870 and popularized by Alfred Marshall, as a substitute for the earlier term political economy which has been used through the 18-19th centuries, with Adam Smith, David Ricardo and Karl Marx as its main thinkers and which today is frequently referred to as... Efforts to describe and explain the human language faculty have been undertaken throughout recorded history. ... Antecedents of political science While the study of politics is first found in the Western tradition in Ancient Greece, political science is a late arrival in terms of social sciences. ... The history of psychology consists of a prescientific and a scientific epoch. ... Sociology is a relatively new academic discipline among other social sciences including economics, political science, anthropology, and psychology. ... Agronomy today is very different from what it was before about 1950. ... Rendering of human brain based on MRI data Cognitive Science is the scientific study of the mind and brain and how they give rise to behavior. ... Communication studies is the academic discipline that studies communication; subdisciplines include animal communication, argumentation, speech communication, rhetoric, communication theory, group communication, information theory, intercultural communication, interpersonal communication, intrapersonal communication, marketing, organizational communication, persuasion, propaganda, public affairs, public relations and telecommunication. ... Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School of Computer Science Open Directory Project: Computer Science Downloadable Science and Computer Science books Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies Belief that title science in computer science is inappropriate Categories: Computer science ... Ecology is generally spoken of as a new science, really not coming into prominence before the middle of the 20th Century. ... The History of materials science is rooted in the history of the Earth and the culture of the peoples of the Earth. ... All human societies have medical beliefs that provide explanations for, and responses to, birth, death, and disease. ... A pseudoscience is any body of knowledge purported to be scientific or supported by science but which fails to comply with the scientific method. ... The Timeline below shows the date of publication of major scientific theories. ... The timeline below shows the date of publication of major scientific experiments. ... This is a list of topics in various sciences. ...

The term

Formed by combining the Greek βίος (bios), meaning 'life', and λόγος (logos), meaning 'study of', the word "biology" in its modern sense seems to have been introduced independently by Karl Friedrich Burdach in 1800, Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (Biologie oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur, 1802) and by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (Hydrogéologie, 1802). The word itself appears in the title of Volume 3 of Michael Christoph Hanov's Philosophiae naturalis sive physicae dogmaticae: Geologia, biologia, phytologia generalis et dendrologia, published in 1766. 1800 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (February 4, 1776 - February 16, 1837) was a German naturalist. ... Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, Chevalier de Lamarck (August 1, 1744 - December 28, 1829) was a major 19th century French naturalist, who was one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. ... 1766 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

Biology in ancient time

From the very beginning people must have had knowledge about plants and animals that made them capable in hunting and agriculture. For example, they had to know how to avoid poisonous plants and how to treat animals. Biology hence predates the written history of humans.

Ancient Oriental people knew about the pollination of date palm from a very early point of time. In Mesopotamia they knew that pollen could be used in fertilizing plants. A business contract of the Hammurabi period (c. 1800 BC) mentions flowers of the date palm as an article of commerce. The term the Orient - literally meaning sunrise, east - is traditionally used to refer to Near, Middle, and Far Eastern countries. ... Binomial name Phoenix dactylifera L. The Date Palm Phoenix dactylifera is a palm, extensively cultivated for its edible fruit. ... Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ... This diorite head is believed to represent king Hammurabi Hammurabi (also transliterated Hammu-rapi or Khammurabi) was the sixth king of Babylon. ...

In India texts described some aspects of bird life. In Egypt the mathamorphosis of insects and frogs was described. Egyptians and babylonians also knew of anatomy and physiology in various forms. In Mesopotamia, animals were sometimes kept in what can be described as the first zoological gardens. Mesopotamia (Greek: Μεσοποταμία, translated from Old Persian Miyanrudan the Land between the Rivers; Aramaic name being Beth-Nahrain House of Two Rivers) is a region of Southwest Asia. ...

However, superstitious thoughts often blended with real knowledge. In Babylon and Assyria organs of animals were used in prediction, and in Egypt medicine included a large amount of mysticism. Babylon is the Greek variant of Akkadian Babilu, an ancient city in Mesopotamia (Location: 32°32′11″ N 44°25′15″ E, modern Al Hillah, Iraq). ... Assyria in earliest historical times referred to a region on the Upper Tigris river, named for its original capital, the city of Ashur. ...

Aristotle (sculpture)

In the Graeco-Roman world scholars became more interested in rationalist methods. Aristotle is one of the most prolific natural philosophers of antiquity. He made countless observations of nature, especially the habits and attributes of plants and animals in the world around him, which he devoted considerable attention to categorizing. Aristotle File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Aristotle File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Aristotle, marble copy of bronze by Lysippos. ... Aristotle, marble copy of bronze by Lysippos. ... Antiquity means ancient times, and may be used of any period before the Middle Ages. ... A habit is the usual condition or state of a person or thing, either natural or acquired, regarded as something had, possessed, and firmly retained. ... // An abstraction is an idea, concept, or word which defines the phenomena which make up the concrete events or things which the abstraction refers to, the referents. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Subregnum Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... For Wikipedias categorization projects, see Wikipedia:Categorization. ...

In ancient Rome, Pliny the Elder is known for his knowledge of plants and nature. Later, Claudius Galen became a pioneer in medicine and anatomy. Á Gaius Plinius Secundus, (23–79) better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author and Natural philosopher of some importance who wrote Naturalis Historia. ... Claudius Galenus of Pergamum (131-201 AD), better known as Galen, was an ancient Greek physician. ...

Medieval biology

This time is often called the dark age of biology. However, some people who dealt with medical issues, was showing their interest in plants and animals as well. In the Arab world, science about nature was kept. Many of the greek works was translated and the knowledge of Aristotle was used. Of the Arab biologists, al-Jahiz, who died about 868, is particularly noteworthy. He wrote Kitab al Hayawan (Book of animals). In the 1200's the german scholar named Albertus Magnus (He was by the way the teacher of Thomas Aquinas) wrote De vegetabilibus, seven books, and De animalibus, 26 books. He was particularly interested in plant propagation and reproduction and discussed in some detail the sexuality of plants and animals. Albertus Magnus (fresco, 1352, Treviso, Italy) Albertus Magnus (1193? – November 15, 1280), also known as Saint Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a Dominican friar who became famous for his universal knowledge and advocacy for the peaceful coexistence of science and religion. ... St Thomas Aquinas Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225 – March 7, 1274) was an Italian Catholic philosopher and theologian in the scholastic tradition. ...

The Renaissance

Interestingly, as many virtual artists was interested in the bodies of animals and humans, they studied the physiology in detailes. Such comparisations as that between a horse leg and a human leg were made. Otto Brunfels, Hieronymus Bock and Leonhard Fuchs were three men who wrote books about wild plants; they have been referd to as the german fathers of botany. Books about animals were also made, such as those by Conrad Gesner, illustrated by among others Albrecht Dürer. Inaccurate knowledge, often a gross one, was still in effect, and in many cases old legends of the greeks was preserved. Hieronymus Bock as depicted in a Herbal Hieronymus Bock or Jérôme Bock (1498 - Feb. ... Conrad Gessner (Konrad Gessner, Conrad von Gesner, Conradus Gesnerus) (26 March 1516-13 December 1565) was a Swiss naturalist. ... Self-Portrait, 1493, Oil on Canvas Albrecht Dürer (May 21, 1471 - April 6, 1528) was a German painter, wood carver, engraver, and mathematician. ...

Modern biology

As technology went forward, so did the science. The predecessors of the microscope were constructed in the following time. Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) investigated blood this way. On this point of time, people also learned to know sperm cells, although strange thoughts about their functions often was spread. Systematizing and classifying dominated biology throughout much of the 17th and 18th centuries, the most famous person here is Carl von Linné (1707-1778). He it was inventing the taxonomy system with scientific names in latin. The long-held idea that living organisms could originate from nonliving matter (spontaneous generation) began to crumble. It was finally disproved by Louis Pasteur. Anton von Leeuwenhoek Anton van Leeuwenhoek (October 24, 1632 _ August 26, 1723) was a tradesman and scientist from Delft, in the Netherlands. ... A painting of Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné  ?, and who wrote under the Latinized name Carolus Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of taxonomy. ... Taxonomy (from Greek ταξινομία (taxinomia) from the words taxis = order and nomos = law) may refer to either the classification of things, or the principles underlying the classification. ... Louis Pasteur (December 27, 1822 – September 28, 1895) was a French microbiologist and chemist. ...

In the 19th century the area of genetics developed, when the Austrian monk Gregor Mendel formulated his laws of inheritance published in 1866. However, his work was not recognized for a few decades afterward. The other important scientist that influenced this field was the British scientist Charles Darwin, who was encouraged to publish his thoughts in the field by the independent work of Alfred Russel Wallace. Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Genetics (from the Greek genno γεννώ= give birth) is the science of genes, heredity, and the variation of organisms. ... A Roman Catholic monk A monk is a person who practices monasticism, adopting a strict religious and ascetic lifestyle, usually in community with others following the same path. ... Gregor Johann Mendel Gregor Johann Mendel (July 22, 1822 – January 6, 1884) was an Austrian monk who is often called the father of genetics for his study of the inheritance of traits in pea plants. ... 1866 is a common year starting on Monday. ... Charles Darwin in 1854, five years before he published The Origin of Species. ... Alfred Russel Wallace Alfred Russel Wallace (January 8, 1823 — November 7, 1913) was a British naturalist, geographer, anthropologist and biologist. ...

Darwin's famous work On the Origin of Species (1859) describes natural selection, the primary mechanism for evolution. Implications of evolution on fields outside of pure science have led to both opposition and support from different parts of society. The 1859 edition of On the Origin of Species First published in 1859, The Origin of Species (full title On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life) by British naturalist Charles Darwin is one of the pivotal... 1859 is a common year starting on Saturday. ... Natural selection is a process by which biological populations are altered over time, as a result of the propagation of heritable traits that affect the capacity of individual organisms to survive and reproduce. ... Charles Darwin, father of the theory of evolution by natural selection. ... Proponents of creationism have argued that the social effect of evolutionary theory be taught in state run schools. ...

Charles Darwin, 1854

By 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick clarified the basic structure of DNA, the genetic material for expressing life in all of its forms³. This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons, a repository of free content hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation. ... Charles Darwin in 1854, five years before he published The Origin of Species. ... 1854 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1953 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... There is more than one person with the name James Watson: James Watson, participant in the Battle of the Little Bighorn James Watson, author of the novel Talking in Whispers James Watson, U.S. Senator from New York (1797-1801) James Watson, painter of 77 portraits held by the U... Photomontage of Francis Crick lecturing Professor Francis Harry Compton Crick, OM FRS (8 June 1916 – 28 July 2004) was a British physicist, molecular biologist and neuroscientist, most noted for being one of the co- discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, for which he, James Watson and... Space-filling model of a section of DNA molecule Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions specifying the biological development of all cellular forms of life (and many viruses). ... ... Life is a multi-faceted concept. ...

After the success of the discovery of the structure of DNA, Crick turned to the problem of consciousness; in the meantime, the studies of developmental biology came to the fore as unsolved problems. Clones of both plants and animals were attempted, with some success, but with attendant ethical questions. In particular, totipotent stem cells have come to be recognized as a fundamental object of study for the understanding of developmental biology, and for medical therapies. Consciousness is a quality of the mind generally regarded to comprise qualities such as subjectivity, self-awareness, sentience, sapience, and the ability to perceive the relationship between oneself and ones environment. ... Developmental biology is the study of the process by which organisms grow and develop. ... Unsolved problems in : Note: Use the unsolved tag: {{unsolved|F|X}}, where F is any field in the sciences: and X is a concise explanation with or without links. ... As a word, clone was first coined by J.B.S. Haldane as subject for theoretical replication of a frog, though the term clone is derived from κλων, the Greek word for twig. In horticulture, the spelling clon was used until the twentieth century. ... Divisions Land plants (embryophytes) Non-vascular plants (bryophytes) Hepatophyta - liverworts Anthocerophyta - hornworts Bryophyta - mosses Vascular plants (tracheophytes) Lycopodiophyta - clubmosses Equisetophyta - horsetails Pteridophyta - true ferns Psilotophyta - whisk ferns Ophioglossophyta - adderstongues Seed plants (spermatophytes) †Pteridospermatophyta - seed ferns Pinophyta - conifers Cycadophyta - cycads Ginkgophyta - ginkgo Gnetophyta - gnetae Magnoliophyta - flowering plants Adiantum pedatum (a fern... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria Placozoa Subregnum Bilateria  Acoelomorpha  Orthonectida  Rhombozoa  Myxozoa  Superphylum Deuterostomia     Chordata (vertebrates, etc. ... Ethics is the branch of axiology – one of the four major branches of philosophy, alongside metaphysics, epistemology, and logic – which attempts to understand the nature of morality; to define that which is right from that which is wrong. ... Mouse embryonic stem cells. ...

See also

• Timeline of biology and organic chemistry

A Timeline of significant events in biology and organic chemistry // Before 1600 c. ...

Notes

Note 3: James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. "Letters to Nature: Molecular structure of Nucleic Acid." Nature 171, 737–738 (1953).. Additional information about this famous journal article is at this Wikipedia page: Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids. Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid by James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick. ...