Appendix A
Famous Biologists
This is a quick list of scientists that impacted the field of biology. This is not meant to be a complete list. It will be used to introduce students to famous scientists and give them a direction for their research projects.
Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was a Greek philosopher and early scientist and is sometimes referred to as the "father of biology." Aristotle worked to set up an organized framework of knowledge that served as the foundation for much of the science and philosophy of ancient and medieval times, and therefore for science of the present day. He was a tutor to Alexander the Great and with Alexander as his patron, he was able to describe plant and animal specimens received from all parts of the vast Alexandrian empire.
Aristotle wrote about 400 treatises. Some of his works include "Historia Animalium" (Enquiry into Animals), "De motu animalium" (On the Motion of Animals), "De incessu animalium" (On the Gait of Animals), "De partibus animalium" (On the Parts of Animals), and "De generation animalium" (On the Generation of Animals). Much of his information has been proven to be either myth, rumors or erroneous information. However, this work was used as a starting point for biological studies.
Charles Darwin 1809-1882 developed a theory of how natural selection drives evolutionary change. His book, On the Origin of Species, convinced many of the reality of evolution. Remembered for the theory of natural selection, the credit for which he had to share with Alfred Wallace, who formulated it independently.
Carolus Linnaeus 1707-1778 was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and a taxonomist. Linnaeus is credited with consistently using a classification system called binomial nomenclature. This system uses two words in a Latin grammatical form. The first word identifies the genus and the second identifies the species within the genus. Humans are homo sapiens. The Linnaean system classified living things within a hierarchy, starting with two kingdoms. Kingdoms were divided into classes and they, in turn, into orders, families, genus, and species. His groupings were based upon shared physical characteristics. Although the groupings themselves have been changed since Linnaeus, as well as the principles behind them, he is credited with establishing the idea of a hierarchical structure of classification based upon observable characteristics.
Andreas Vesalius 1514-1564 can be considered the founder of modern anatomy. Vesalius was said to have been born in Brussels near a place where condemned criminals were executed and left to rot, leading one to believe that as a child Vesalius must have been familiar with the details of human anatomy and decaying bodies. As a medical professor, he handled and dissected the bodies himself — this had been the job of underling barber-surgeons up to that time. Though bodies were in short supply, he used every means legal, and sometimes, illegal to get the materials he needed for his studies. Vesalius' drawings were based on direct observation. He transformed his field of research and forever changed the teaching of medicine. Vesalius' famous book titled, "De humani corporis fabric" a (On the Fabric of the Human Body, 1543, 1555), remained the basis of medical illustration for generations and still influences how we look at our bodies today.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) was Austrian scientist and monk. Through his experiments with pea plants, he devised an understanding that the inheritance of traits follows particular rules, now known as Mendel's Laws. After his studies with pea plants, Mendel began studying honeybees. He was able to produce hybrid varieties, however could not control the mating of the honeybees and therefore could not successfully define a clear picture of heredity. He has been called the father of genetics.
Louis and Mary Leakey, two of the foremost fossil hunters of the 20th century, are known for their many discoveries relating to early human evolution. Their finds at Olduvai Gorge, a site in northwestern Tanzania, when added to the prior work of Raymond Dart and Robert Broom, convinced most paleoanthropologists that humans originally evolved in Africa. For many years, especially after the discoveries of Homo erectus remains in Java, and in China at Zhoukoudian, the general belief among scientists had been that humans had come into being in Asia.
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