This timeline takes us all the way back to 384BC where we are introduced to Aristotle and his works and it drops us off at, well, today! Our last monumental, biological event is a super recent release by Stanford University in regards to stem cells and how fat cells could possibly be modified to become bone. Crazy, right?!
The study of life came about somehow, right? Aristotle can be given credit for some of the most basic but complex thoughts regarding life. 31 of his, approximately, 200 writings have been kept alive since he roamed Earth asking who, what, when, where and how things, people and animals existed. Aristotle's questions, theories and treatises led to other curious minds proving and disproving his findings, works and beliefs. Much of today's knowledge and technology can be traced back to Aristotle's initial questions about life. We are constantly questioning, testing and discovering ideas to nurture and grow what we know about life. Thank you, Mr. Aristotle.
The sperm and the egg are the main component of sexual reproduction. The sperm comes from the male and the egg is located in the female. According to this article, the ones who discovered the sex cells have been forgotten.
In 1683, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek curiously put plaque he had scraped off his teeth under a microscope. In awe he watched many microscopic organisms move swiftly around and he called them “animalcules.” He wrote a letter entailing what he had witnessed, making it the first record of bacteria seen in the human body.
In 1735, Carl Linnaeus published his first edition of Systema Naturae, where he classified living things. Systema Naturae described a system of how living things are to be named. This was the foundation of the Taxonomy system we have today, including the use of a binomial nomenclature. Today though instead of using morphological characteristics like Linnaeus used, we classify organisms based on genetic similarities.
In 1771, Joseph Priestley used a bell jar to conduct a series of experiments studying the relationship between plants and animals. He noted that when a plant and a mouse are separately put into a sealed glass container they eventually die, but when put together they were able to survive. He was the first to demonstrate that oxygen is necessary for animals (and fire) discovering photosynthesis, something that is very important for our survival.
In 1802, Lamarck published his theory of evolution in Recherches sur l’organisation des corps vivants. His theory was based around heritable modification focusing it on the progression of organ structures in various species and how the way a certain animal lives can have effect on the form of its body. This describes the variations in populations and the variations within different species.
In 1820, Nasse published his results on the “hereditary disposition to fatal bleeding.” The characteristics of hemophilia that were listed in his results were different than anything that was previously published. He and his assistant noticed that although only the males were being affected they did not show any signs towards transmitting the disease, but rather it was unaffected women they may have had some relation to. It started being called “Nasse’s law” since it had to be inherited in order to get a diagnosis. Nasse provided the base of something that has been continuously studied.
Often given credit for his work and discoveries regarding medicine, Rudolph Virchow is one of history's most highly regarded scientists. Virchow's passion for medicine and studying diseased cells, tissues and organs paved the way for modern medicine. Isn't it wild to think that this man was one of the first human beings to understand the physics and physiology of a cancer cell(s)?
Gregor Mendel is often referred to as the "father of genetics". Mendel completed several experiments with pea plants and the results led to today's heredity rules.
Louis Pasteur came up with the process of pasteurization which definitely helped keep people healthier and safer when ingesting drinks that could contain bacteria. Pasteurization kills bacteria in drinks by heating the liquid up and then cooling it back down. Today, this term is frequently used with milk as pasteurized milk.
In 1826 Karl von Baer made the discovery of the ovym of mammals and humans. In 1827 Baer published Epistola de ovi mammalium et hominis genesi which was where the mammalian egg was first described, stating that an animal life begins with an egg. This put down the foundation for a very descriptive and comparative embryology.
In 1838, Matthias Schleiden proposed that all plants are composed of cells. He made his hobby of botany into a career later teaching at the University of Jena. He liked to study plants under microscopes, looking at different parts of the plant organism, in doing so he discovered that the parts were composed of cells. He recognized the importance of cell nucleus and its connection to cell division.
In 1839, Theodor Schwann published a monograph declaring that all animals and plants are made of one single fundamental unit. This purposely completely changed the study of life. It was discovered based on years upon years of studies/discoveries. Schwann and Schleiden argued that cells are the elementary of particles. This recognized that all living things were made of cells, thus putting cells at the center of years of research and setting another foundation to biology.
Gregor Mendel proposed Mendel’s Laws in 1865 and 1866 but being controversial, it was not rediscovered until 1900. Bovril and Walter both seperetly investigated the theory in a cellular level. They came to the conclusion that sperm and egg cells contributed the same number of chromosomes need order for reproduction and development to occur.
In 1901, Hugo de Vries published a ginormous, two-volume book titled The Mutation Theory (Die Mutationstheorie). In this book de Vries proposes a new concept called "sports" or mutations in organisms. His concept of mutations was very influential in his time, but was abandoned in the early 1920s.
The hormone named Secretin was discovered in 1902 by Starling and Bayliss. It was later synthesized in the 60's. This hormone is being used for pancreatic therapy studies and even though its the "oldest" hormone, its full potential is still a mystery.
The Bohr Model was created by Mr. Niels Bohr. Part of one of Bohr's theories was that electrons traveled around the nucleus. These electrons flew in different orbitals and can be expressed using Bohr's model.
Biomes have changed many times over the course of the years. These different "exhibits" can show how everything is related and just how drastically things have changed since this term was coined. According to the site listed as reference, a Biome is one "of the World's major communities". Biomes can be broken in into five main categories, according to this site, and they are aquatics, deserts, forests, grasslands and tundra.
Frederick Grant Banting and Charles Herbert Best closed off the pancreatic ducts of a dog, resulting in the stop of nourishment to the pancreas. This would degenerate the pancreas, making it shrivel and lose ability to secrete digestive juices and ultamitly making the dog diabetic. On other dogs they removed the pancreas entirely, sliced it, froze it in a water salt solution, grounded and filtered the pieces, and got a final solution which he named insulin. The insulin was injected into dogs they made diabetic and helped drop the blood glucose level, which made the dog healthier and stronger.
In 1921 the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine was developed and is still used today. BCG is the only vaccine used for Tuberculosis. BCG has been administered approximately 4 billion doses worldwide since it was first used in 1921. Newborns are administered this vaccine as part of the expanded program for immunization. While this is the most commonly administered vaccine, it is not perfect. Once beyond infancy and childhood an alternative is needed since its not possible to "boost" the protection by simply getting another BCG vaccine. There are current candidates in trials for a new TB vaccine.
Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. After seeing the how effectively a bacterial infection could kill while in WWI, he decided to find a chemical cure in his lab. He discovered lysozyme in bodily fluids but it was no match to when test against the strongest infectious agents. He kept his lab in disarray, keeping dishes in the sink to “collect” bacteria samples. While cleaning his “samples” one day he discovered that one dish’s mold was unusual to what he usually got; around the mold, the staph bacteria had been killed. He took the sample and discovered it was from the penicillium family.
The term was first coined in 1930 by Roy Clapman but was actually fully defined by Arthur Tansley in a 1935 article of his. As defined by Tansley ecosystem is every physical factor of the environment. This replaced the superorganism concept in which every community of organisms formed something similar in a higher level.
Using radioactive isotope carbon-14 to track the path of carbon in photosynthesis he was able to create the Calvin cycle. He marked plant cells that would take in carbon dioxide with the carbon isotope, then put it in boiling alcohol; this allowed the synthesized compound to be identified. This explained that sunlight caused the plant’s chlorophyll to react, not carbon dioxide.
Double helix structure of DNA was discovered by Watson and Crick: After failed attempts from various scientist trying to creating the model for DNA, Watson and Crick got help from visiting physical chemist, Jerry Donohue, that the configuration for the elements of the bases was wrong in most textbook. This led them to discover that A is always paired with T and G is always paired with a C. Watson and Crick were then able to write the journal Nature, whuch explained the double helix shape of DNA.
Before 1969 Fungi and plants were part of the same kingdom. There were only two main kingdoms before, animal and plant. Fungus was believed to come from a single algal ancestor from the algal division, like plants. It was believed that fungi’s ancestor lost the ability to photosynthesize. 26.1969 when Fungi became an independent kingdom: New techniques helped determine the relationships between organisms. That showed that fungi were made up of polyphyletic group of organisms that were usually not very related, this gave fungi its own kingdom.
1970- Temin discovered reverse transcriptase: Temin gathered evidence which showed central dogma to be inconsistent. He focused on the Rous Sarcoma Virus (RSV), which affects RNA, making normal cells into cancerous cells. Data gathered suggested that RSV was sensitive to DNA synthesis inhibitors, which meant DNA is present in transformed test.
1982 the term AIDS is used for the first time: Acquired Immune Dificiency Syndrome, better know as AIDS, causes a person to have a weak ability to fight infections and cancer. A person is said to have AIDS when their existent HIV infection is at a advance state.
Polymerase chain reaction: Developed by Kary Mullis, PCR is a common and important technique used in medical and biology labs. It depends on thermal cycling to make the DNA melt and enzymatic replication of DNA, helping with mutations.
Dolly the sheep: was first clone of an adult mammal. Taking 277 attempts, Dolly was cloned by taking a 6 year old sheep’s udder cells and “reprogramed” them to keep then alive but stop from growing. Then injecting them into an unfertlised egg cell with a removed nucleus from another sheep. Then finally implanting it into a surrogate mother.
Stem cells were first used in clinical trails by Geron in 2010 for patients with spinal cord injury. Because of lack of funds the trials had to be cancelled, but grants have allowed for research to continue to get potential therapies. these researches help determine which type of nerve cell would be best for a transplant and which type of stem cell would be best to use.
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