Notable Biologists

It’s Greek To Me

Anaximander

• Developed theory that human beings evolved from fish

Hippocrates

• “Father of Modern Medicine.” Hippocratic Oath was named for him. Wrote Corpus Hippocraticum

The World Medical Association's logo[4] features a serpent wrapped around a staff, the symbol of the ancient Greek god Asklepios. Aesculapius, worshipped by the Greeks as the god of healing, who originated in ancient Egypt as Imhotep, high-priest, sage and minister to the pharaoh, Zoser. It is significant that this symbol is reminiscent of the Staff of Moses.[5] The World Health Organisation's logo[6] also contains the ancient religious symbol of the serpent and staff, which is superimposed over the United Nations emblem.

Aristotle

• Observed and classified animals

• Wrote Parts of Animals, On Plants, History of Animals and Generation of Animals.

• Known as “Father of biology” and “Founder of Zoology”

Galen

• Father of Experimental Physiology

• Wrote On the Natural Faculties

• Established idea of pulmonary circulation

English

Robert Hooke

• First person to observe cells

• Wrote Micrographia (1665), which was a milestone in the history of microscopy

• Introduced term cells in his work

Edward Jenner

• Performed first vaccination against smallpox

• Pioneer of immunology and virology

Charles Robert Darwin

• Noted for his theory of evolution through process of natural selection

• Wrote “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” or the “Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life.”

Alfred Russell Wallace

• Known for independent discovery of evolutionary change at same time as Darwin.

• His travels took him along the Amazon River and Rio Negro and to Malay Archipelego

Italian

Leonardo Da Vinci

• Helped formulate modern anatomical study through his notebooks

Giovanni Batista Morgagni

• Published on “The Seats and Causes of Disease.” (1761)

• This demonstrated that diseases start in specific organs of the body and are scattered throughout the body

• Also described many diseases of the heart and blood vessels

• “Founder of Pathological Anatomy.”

Others

Anton van Leeuwenhoek (Dutch) 1623-1723

• Discovered Bacteria with Microscope

• Known as Father of Microbiology

Johann Gregor Mendel (Austrian)

• Discovered basic principles of heredity through a breeding experiment with peas in the monastery garden.

• His work laid the foundation for new science of genetics.

Louis Pasteur (French)

• Killed microbes with heat and saved wine industry in 1864.

• Later his method, pasteurization, helped preserve milk, beer and food.

• Proved value of vaccination by vaccinating sheep against anthrax, thus founding science of immunity.

• Developed cure for rabies. • Disproved theory of

spontaneous generation

George Washington Carver (American) 1864-1943

• Revolutionized Southern Agriculture

• Developed numerous products from peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans.

• Called “Plant Doctor” and known as “Father of Chemurgy”

Sir Alexander Fleming (Scottish)

• Discovered penicillin in 1928.

Rachel Louise Carson (American)

• Known for concern for the ecology and the environment, and especially for opposition to the indiscriminate use of pesticides.

• Wrote “Sea Around Us” (1951) and “Silent Spring”

James D. Watson and Francis H. Crick (American)

• Discovered Structure of DNA for which they shared Nobel Prize for physiology of medicine in 1962.

• Wrote “Double Helix” (1953).

• The double helix is the two intertwined coils that form the crystalline structure of DNA