A great anatomist who dissected barbary apes to understand the heart, the nervous system, and the mechanics of breathing.
In 347 BC, Aristotle began to create his own ideas along with a companion, Theophrastus. They studied the differences and similarities in animals. Today, Aristotle is considered the father of taxonomy, because he classified organisms and used binomial definition to name them.
Found that diseases are contagious through direct contact, indirect contact, and contact from a distance.
Before the Compound, SEM, TEM, and other light microscopes were made, Zacharias Janssen is credited for inventing the proto microscope. In the 16th century, Janssen was the most advanced microscope at the time, having a bi-convex (2 out lens) and a plano-convex for magnification when light is passes through. His invention impacted the viewing of the microscopic world, fossils, and cells when future scientists perfected the magnifying power of new microscopes.
Francesco Redi wanted to disapprove the notion that maggots/ flies did not arise spontaneously from rotten meat. He carried an experiment placing two pieces of raw meat in two separate jars. One was covered while the other was left open. For a period of time, there were maggots and eggs in the opened lid jar and no maggots or eggs in the sealed jar. He reasoned that maggots laid eggs in the open jar due to assessable entry. The significant impact to his experiment sort of shows the fundamental principles of having controls in experimental setups, eliminating changes in dependent variables.
Swammerdam was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. He worked with insects in a way that showed the different phases during the life of an insect and how they are all related to the same animal. He also did experiments on muscle contraction.
In 1735, Carl Linnaeus first published Systema Naturae, which described a system of naming living organisms. This work became the foundation of our system of Taxonomy, including the use of a binomial nomenclature (Genus species) in the naming of organisms. Today, our classification scheme relies on genetic similarities between organisms, rather than the morphological characteristics Linnaeus used.
Matriculated under a surgeon, Jenner carried a famous experiment by doing his own variolation on James Philip. He inserted a viral cowpox viral infection into the boy, which was not as severe as smallpox, his main protocol. Philip did not experience any symptoms from smallpox as if he was given some immunity. This coined the new term vaccine in 1798, which broadens our understanding on disease prevention.
Priestley discovered plants release oxygen. He noticed when he placed a plant and a mouse inside a jar with no air the mouse stayed alive. However, if he left only the mouse inside the jar, the mouse would die. This led to his conclusion that plants release oxygen.
von Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and a founding father of embryology. He studied the embryonic development of animals which led to him discovering the blastula stage of development and the notochord. Baer discovered the mammalian ovum in 1826. He also founded Baer's Laws of Embryology.
Darwin was a naturalist known for his discoveries concerning evolution. He is best known for his writing, "On the Origin of Species". He got his start with the theory of evolution from his grandfather, Erasmus Darwin. Later, his trip around the world and , at one point, the Galapagos Islands, provded him with information to fuel his theory. From his trip he was able to piece together evidence that proved transmutation and a process called "Natural Selection".
Semmelweis was a Hungarian physician who believed in antiseptic protocol. He worked at the Vienna General Hospital and noticed the high mortality rate in maternity clinics/wards. Since the hospital was small, many physicians did many task, including dissecting bodies and examining other patients. Mothers to be were developing childbed fever from contamination of doctors who worked with dead bodies. Semmelweis proposed the idea for doctors to wash their hands between different operations, which later reduced the mortality rate of mothers to be significantly. His now recognized antiseptic protocol has reduced numerous strains of bacteria in hospital settings, and it is now a mandated practice.
Mendel was a geneticist who worked on transferring hereditary traits to plant offspring. He saw that the plants came in multiple varieties, making them perfect candidates for cross-fertilization. When he crossed a tall, smooth, green pea plant with a short, wrinkled, yellow plant, he saw the first generation yielded tall, smooth, green pea plants. He realized some traits were dominant over the other(recessive), and are passed from parent to offspring independently. His contribution led to the parallelism between meiosis when DNA was later discovered in the 1900s.
Wallace was a British humanist, naturalist, geographer, and social critic. Throughout his career, Wallace traveled and wrote many scientific books, articles, essays, and periodicals. His first set of writings came from a trip he and a colleague took to Brazil where they collected specimen. Wallace's findings were more butterflies, insects and birds.
Studied the process of fertilization in plants, and discovered the nucleus. Believed it was the center of recreation.
In 1838, Schlseiden stated all plants are made of cells. He was one of the first to make a statement over cells. This changed the focus of science to living things.
Laveran was professor of military disease and epidemics at a university in Paris. He also wrote "Treatise on Military Diseases and Epidemics" and many other scientific publications. Laveran used his observations from his work in anatomic pathology to lead his quest to find the cause of malaria.
In 1859, Louis Pasteur disproved Aristotle's theory wrong. He invented the "germ theory" saying that food went bad due to the contamination in the air.
In 1862, Sachs shows the role of sunlight in photosynthesis. He also studied the function of the chloroplast and chlorophyll in photosynthesis.
Karl Landsteiner was able to identify the four main blood groups (A, B, AB, and O) that humans can have. He used antibodies to tag different samples of blood to see which matched pairs don’t react or agglutinate (clump together). When blood of a donor is transfused to an acceptor of a different blood type, the acceptor blood cells can lyse, jeopardizing the individual’s life. The significance of blood typing guarantees patients safe blood transfusions, knowing that their donors have the same blood type to be used in events like during surgeries, anemia, and other conditions.
Rachel Carson was a marine biologist and crusader of the environmental movement. He studies and research focused on environmental preservation and the effects of pollution on animals. She is also I an author, and she wrote one controversial book titled Silent Spring, which highlighted detrimental effects of DDT and pesticide ad a call for action. For example toxic chemicals from DDT taken up by lesser organisms that are eaten by higher level consumers causes biological magnification. Bald eagles were affected by the chemicals, lowering the calcium levels in egg shells which made them brittle and easily breakable. This decreased bald eagle population, and Carson anti-chemical campaign have influenced the government to limit chemical use to control environmental infestation.
Frederick Banting, J.J.R. Macleod, and Charles Best discovered insulin, which returns high blood glucose levels to an optimal level. They found out that the ligation (closing off) of the “islets of Langerhans” or insulin ducts caused diabetes. The group purified insulin and inserted it into animals for proteins to produce more insulin to treat people who suffer from diabetes. The main diet in humans is carbohydrates, which is broken down into glucose, and the pancreas role in the digestive system is to secrete insulin to lower blood glucose levels. The discovery of insulin has significantly impact the medicine industry, producing various diabetic drugs for certain individuals who can’t produce insulin.
Fleming discovered penicillin as a mold in a petri dish. He discovered it was a cure to bacterial infections. However, no scientists listened to him. Later, Howard Florey, a professor at Oxford University, took Fleming's finding and injected it into mice.
Watson is a a Nobel Prize-winning biophysicist and researcher.He did work in cancer research and genome mapping. Watson is credited with discovering the double-helix structure of DNA with colleague Francis Crick.
In 1931, the invention of the electron microscope was first invented by Max Knoll and Ernst Ruska. Overtime the resolution improved to other scientists such as Brussels Ladislaus L. Marton, Cecil Hall, James Hillier, and Albert Prebus. Before, scientists did not have access to the image of cells, but thanks to electron microscopy we are able to see the features in a cell.
Baltimore is a Nobel Prize winning biologist. He received the award at the age of 37 for research in virology. He has hugely influenced policies in recombinant DNA research and the AIDS epidemic. One issue he is most known for is identifying the enzyme reverse transcriptase in virus particles. This finding supported the process of RNA to DNA conversion.
Rosalind Franklin was an x-ray crystallographer, and she used radiographic imaging to capture a generalized structure of the double- helix DNA. Without her knowledge and work with radiographic imaging, scientists may not have come up with a proper structure. Chargaff was able to identify the nitrogenous base pairs and which bonded to each other, using ratios. A with T and C with G. Watson and Crick used Chargaff’s principle and Franklin imaging to construct the model of DNA. Knowing the basic structure explains how it is a code which instructs the making of 20 different amino acids, which make the physical traits of every traits organisms.
In 1947, the American Institute of Biological Sciences was founded to help advance research in biology. Peer review for research papers helps scientists prepare a well written paper.
In 1985, Kary B. Mullis invented the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to make copies of a strand of DNA. This procedure has helped out biologists to detect genetic defects and AIDs.
Dolly was a domestic sheep and, using nuclear transfer, the first animal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close