History of Biology (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain the history of biology, its early antecedents, its relationship with the scientific revolution and main figures.

What is the history of biology?

The history of biology is, at the same time, the account and study of the development of this scientific discipline, dedicated as its name indicates (from the Greek bios“life”, and logos“knowledge” or “discourse”) to the understanding of the mechanisms and dynamics of life as we know it.

The term “biology” was coined in the 19th century when in 1802 both the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) and the German Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (1776-1837) published independent works that proposed the common use of that word. Thus they founded a complete science, following the spirit of the European Enlightenment.

However, The study itself of the laws of life dates back to the first naturalist philosophers of Antiquity. Thus, what we call biology today was known for centuries as natural philosophy or natural history, and therefore those who dedicated themselves to its study were called “philosophers” or “naturalists.”

Biology background

It is difficult to mark a starting point in the history of biology, since human interest in the functioning and needs of animals and plants has always accompanied us, especially since the Neolithic Revolution, when agriculture became a become part of our lives and it became essential to know more about them.

So, The different ancient civilizations began the study of life without distinguishing between human anatomy, zoology, botany, chemistry, physics, etc.

There were many famous scholars of the body and life in ancient times, such as Súsruta (c. 3rd century BC), one of the wise founders of traditional Indian medicine, surgeon and author of the treatise Súsruta-samija; or the later Zhang Zhong Jin (150-209 AD), of the school of ancient Chinese medicine. Each one was part of a vast cultural, religious and philosophical tradition that supported a vision of the world and of life itself.

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In the West, there are also pre-Socratic Egyptian and Greek equivalents, but The most famous student of life was the Greek philosopher Aristotle of Stagira (384-322 BC). Among his numerous works is the first classification of organisms of which there is a record, and the analysis and description of around 500 different animal species.

The Aristotelian model of thought was of such importance that it was improved and expanded by naturalists and doctors of later times, thus surviving beyond the Middle Ages. At that time, while the West was immersed in obscurantism and religious fanaticism, The Golden Age of Islam took place between the 8th and 9th centuries (AD), with great contributions to biology and medicine.

Only in zoology, highlighted the Arab Al-Jahiz (781-869), who described some of the first ideas around evolutionism and the fight for survival through the food chain; the Kurdish Al-Dinawari (828-896), one of the founders of botany and student of more than 637 different species of plants; and the Persian Al-Biruni (973-1048), creator of the concept of artificial selection and one of the precursors of evolutionism.

The West contributed little during the Early Middle Ages to the advancement of biology, although there were contributions to the subject in European universities, such as Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Albert the Great (1193-1280) or Frederick II of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250). But compared to the interest in physics and chemistry in Europe, biology received little attention at that time.

Biology in the Scientific Revolution

This changed radically with the arrival of the Renaissance and the Modern Age. The renewed Western interest in the natural sciences and physiology, as well as in modern medicine, was largely due to a new form of philosophical thought, characterized by empiricism and reason. There were great contributions to botany in the form of herbalism studies, and to zoology through numerous bestiaries.

Thanks to advances in physics and optics, At the end of the 16th century, the invention of the microscope allowed the first study with illustrations of the first cells: Micrographia (1665) by the British Robert Hooke (1635-1703).

modern biology

Species - Charles Darwin — Darwin's theory is the most important event in the modern history of biology.

biology began to take its first steps as an independent field of knowledge at the end of the 18th century after great advances were made in the observation and dissection of animals, and especially after the famous Swedish naturalist Carlos Linnaeus (1707-1778) proposed his basic taxonomy for the natural world.

His vision of the organization of the kingdoms of life made Aristotle's obsolete. Besides, Linnaeus proposed a system of naming species that we still use today today, and which consists of two terms (genus and species) in Latin: Homo sapiensFor example.

Thus, entering the 19th century, what was formerly physiology had come to be called medicine; and what were natural history and natural philosophy were giving way to an immense set of more specialized knowledge: bacteriology, morphology, embryology, etc.

Even geology and geography began to emancipate their fields of knowledge, thanks largely to the prolonged study trips of naturalists of the stature of the German Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and the Frenchman Aimé Bonpland (1773-1858), among many others.

Another important quantum leap occurred around the debate on the origin of life and evolutionary theory. The first theory of evolution came from the French naturalist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) and, later, the British Charles Darwin (1809-1882), responsible for the basic theory that we use today. your book The origin of species of 1859 is considered the most important event in the modern history of biology.