We are all present in a biome with living and non-living factors. The fascinating diversity and processes of living factors must be understood and classified. All the mysteries and processes of living beings are discovered and understood by biologists. They have saved lives and made things simpler as well. From saving thousands of people from deadly diseases to producing detergents from microbes, they have been a great asset to the science field.
Here are some scientists you must know about.
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1. Charles Darwin
Considered the “Father of Evolutionary Biology,” Darwin was an English naturalist, biologist, and the person behind popularising the term “natural selection.” He and Alfred Russell Wallace published their theories together. When his book “On the Origin of Species” was published, it convinced the scientific community that evolution was true.
He was awarded honorary titles like “Fellow of the Royal Society,” “Copley Medal,” “Wollaston Medal,” and “Royal Medals.” On the Origin of Species, The Voyage of the Beagle, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex are some of his famous publications. His greatest contribution is that he completed the Copernican revolution.
2. Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
The Dutch self-taught science genius who was recognised as the “Father of Microbiology” was a microbiologist and microscopist. He designed his own single-lens microscopes to observe random things and accidentally discovered microorganisms for the first time. This led to a whole new branch of biology called microbiology.
Leeuwenhoek observed muscle fibers, bacteria, spermatozoa, red blood cells, crystals in gouty tophi, and was among the first to observe blood flow in capillaries under the microscope. Although he never wrote a book, he did write more than 500 letters to the Royal Society and other scientific institutions throughout his lifetime. “Van Leeuwenhoek’s disease,” which he personally suffered from, was named after him.
3. Sushruta
The sage of the Himalayas and the author of Sushruta Samhita is known as “the founding father of surgery.” Sushruta Samahita was a precursor book for Ayurveda, along with Charaka Samahita. It was an instruction manual for physicians to treat their patients holistically at that time.
Sushruta’s texts and instructions on nasal reconstruction, or rhinoplasty, mentioned in the book were very ahead of their time. He helped people by reconstructing their noses, which had been amputated as punishment. The same practise is applied to this day.
4. Hippocrates of Kos (Hippocrates II)
This Greek physician is known as the “father of modern medicine.” Hippocrates developed the theory of the four humors (fluids), known as Hippocrates’ theory. The famous Hippocratic Oath for the ethics of a doctor was invented by him. He stressed and practised the use of prognosis and clinical observation in the medical field.
Hippocrates was the writer of the Hippocratic Corpus, which was a collection of around 60 ancient Greek medical works and also systematised the study of clinical medicine. Different systems all over the world adopted Hippocratic methods, and the development of new technologies was brought into action.
5. Aristotle
His contribution to the field of biology was substantial. This led him to be honored with the title “Father of Zoology.” He classified different species of animals based on the similarities and differences of their external characteristics. He viewed happiness (eudaimonia) or “living well” as the primary goal in human life. He is the inventor of the study of formal logic and was the first embryologist known to history.
6. Theophrastus
Theophrastus, who was the successor to Aristotle, is widely known as the “Father of botany.” This Greek philosopher was a brilliant scholar, botanist, biologist, and physicist too. His two impressive works of botany, “Enquiry into Plants (Historia Plantarum)” and “On the Causes of Plants,” have widely been known to boost the field of botany. These held information about natural history and were the most important books written at that time.
Historia Plantarum initially consisted of ten volumes, of which nine survived. In addition, he revised Aristotle’s modal logic and was named Aristotle’s successor. He tried to systematise the knowledge of plants in this book “on the causes of plants.”
7. Gregor Mendel
Mendel, who is posthumously recognised as the “Father of Genetics,” formed the law of inheritance by crossbreeding pea plants in an experiment. This experiment took place in his experimental garden at his church, where he experimented as a hobby to see variation in pea plants. He studied beekeeping in his childhood. His work came to light only 30 years after his death. He mostly published works related to meteorology.
8. Edward Jenner
The brain behind the concept of the vaccine, Edward Jenner, was a British physician and scientist. He created the world’s first vaccine, “the smallpox vaccine.” As a result, he became known as the “Father of Vaccines.” He first inoculated an 8-year-old boy with the contents of cowpox lesions from another person, and this process is called variolation.
The boy who was variolated didn’t contract smallpox because he was already immune to it. This is how the story of the development and use of vaccines started. This was a huge invention for mankind, as it saved millions of people from deadly diseases and their aftereffects.
9. Louis Pasteur
This French chemist and microbiologist was involved in the development and discovery of vaccine action principles. He demonstrated that the cause of diseases were microorganisms, which is known as the germ theory of disease. Thus, Pasteur was known as the “father of immunology.” He also invented the process of microbial fermentation and pasteurization, a method named after him that was developed to avoid spoilage of milk, beer, and other edibles.
10. Carl Linnaeus
This Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician is known as the “father of modern taxonomy.” A pioneer in the field of ecology, he created a system of rules for naming plants, animals, and other life forms to categorise them for easy study. This system of classification is known as binomial nomenclature. It depicts that an organism has a two-word scientific name—the first is the genus name and the latter is the specific epithet or species name.
Carl also devised the classification system for organisms, from kingdoms to species. His two most famous books, Species plantarum and Systema naturae, are still used by scientists today for the classification and nomenclature of newly discovered species. He studied medicine and was both a professor and a scientist.
Really nice article
Really informative article 👏