Biology is one of the most important sciences, directly connected with many other disciplines and capable of telling about a man no less than history. The subject of study is living organisms, the laws of their existence and development, relationships with the environment and origin. Together with physics and chemistry, science belongs to the natural, aimed at working with nature. By studying the main stages in the development of biology, you can get an idea of what an impressive path this discipline has taken. In addition, it is worth getting acquainted with its further prospects.
The appearance of the term
Of course, science is one of the oldest in the natural direction. But the term appeared not so long ago. A brief history of the development of biology begins only in 1797, when a German professor of anatomy by the name of Theodor Roose proposed such a designation for this science. In 1800, he was also used by a professor at the University of Dorpat Burdah, and in 1802 it could be found in important works by Lamarck and Treviranus. Directly related to the living conditions of society, biology began to develop rapidly. New research methods appear regularly, modern knowledge allows us to look at old theories differently, but without studying the previous stages of development, knowledge about science will be incomplete.
Ancient period
People started collecting information about living beings right after they began to perceive themselves as one of the unique parts of the world around them. In the ancient literary monuments of Egypt, India and Babylon, you can find a variety of data on the structure of animals or plants, their properties and their use in medicine or agriculture. In the fourteenth century BC, the inhabitants of Mesopotamia used cuneiform tablets that contained a systematization of species of organisms. The development of evolutionary ideas in biology was at that time still in the distant future, but even then people learned to divide animals into carnivores and herbivores, determined that plants can be medicinal and agricultural, and even could trace some reasons for the hereditary similarity of children and parents. In particular, Indian medical writings dating from the fourth century BC describe the life features of various organisms and the transmission of information from generation to generation. Useful information is in the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
The emergence of scientific schools
The historical development of biology is directly related to the appearance of certain currents. Scientific schools arose during the slave system in Greece, Alexandria and Rome. The Ionian school developed “natural laws” governing the world — even then philosophers denied the supernatural origin of life. Moreover, Alkmeon was able to study the optic nerves, the development of embryos in birds and determine the important role of the brain as a center of thought. The most famous scientist Hippocrates for the first time in history described the structure of humans and animals, indicated the effects of the environment and heredity on the body in the event of illness. This largely determined the prospects for the development of biology. Aristotle worked at the school of Athens , who created four important treatises with various information about animals. He first identified several kingdoms interconnected. In the future, this system will turn into a "ladder of creatures" and will predetermine the classification of organisms that distinguishes tetrapods, birds, flying and fish.
The study of human anatomy
The brief development of biology during the slave-owning period can be described not only as a time for studying all kinds of classifications, but also as a moment of the most important works on anatomy. Scientist Herophilus compared the structure of animal and human organisms, indicating the difference between veins and arteries. Erasistratus was able to describe in detail the cerebral hemispheres, highlight the presence of gyrus and cerebellum. Scientists from Rome systematized this data, for example, Pliny the Elder, who became the author of Natural History. In this pre-Darwinian period of development of biology, leading experts have already noticed the similarities between humans and monkeys. For example, Claudius Galen performed autopsies of mammals and compiled comparative anatomical descriptions of people and primates. These works seriously influenced the development of physiology and anatomy; therefore, a brief history of the development of biology would be incomplete without them.
Medieval period
The Middle Ages are associated with the rule of religion. A brief history of the development of biology does not include almost any new achievements associated with this period. Knowledge was based on the work of Aristotle, Galen and Pliny. The perception of the world was distorted by religious and philosophical views. The main scientist and thinker Abu Ali Ibn Sina, also known as Avicenna, studied the causal patterns in nature and philosophized about eternity. Scientific breakthroughs did not occur, and in the next historical period, biology entered its ancient form.
Renaissance or Renaissance
After many years of the dictatorship of the theologians, the time has come for the collapse of the old foundations and norms of feudal society. A brief history of the development of biology marks this period as a serious leap in the development of science, then called natural science. An outstanding Renaissance scientist was Leonardo da Vinci. He described plants and bird flight techniques, studied the activity of the heart and the principle of connecting bones and joints, worked on the visual function of the eye and organ homology, emphasized the similarity of the structure of humans and some animals. An important work was also the work of Andreas Vesalius, the so-called "Seven books on the structure of the human body." Harvey opened the blood circulation, and Boreli studied the mechanisms of movement. Before people opened up completely new prospects for the development of biology, inaccessible during religious domination.
Significant breakthrough
The revival gave scientists new opportunities. The result was a leap in scientific knowledge, which led to their differentiation. A brief history of biology may mark this period as a moment of division into several separate disciplines. For example, botany began to develop, and the invention of the microscope allowed advances in anatomy and physiology. Karl Linney became the creator of a detailed classification of animals, introducing divisions into classes, orders, genera and species. It was he who isolated mammals, birds, amphibians, fish, insects and worms. He attributed man to primates. Another prominent figure was Leibniz, who developed the doctrine of the "ladder of beings", a theory that relied heavily on past data, but was still quite innovative.
The emergence of cellular theories
Describing the brief development of biology, the nineteenth century can be noted as the time of the emergence of evolutionary tracts and the foundations of embryology. Scientists Schwann and Schleiden formulated a cellular theory, thanks to the work of Pasteur, Mechnikov, Koch and Lister, bacteriology has developed. The main event was the treatise "The Origin of Species", which predetermined the further development of science. Contribution was made not only by Darwin, but also by Mendel, who described the existence of genes and the laws of their effect on heredity. Then ideas began to appear about the application of physics and chemistry for the study of life phenomena.
Twentieth Century
The last century has become the most time saturated with new information in the science of biology, the 9th grade of any modern school is now studying data that is not accessible even to the advanced minds of the nineteenth century. In the forties, the role of DNA was discovered, in 1953, scientists were able to determine its structure, and in 1961 - to decipher it. Protein synthesis mechanisms have allowed molecular genetics to work with nucleic acids. All this was a gigantic step that allowed a person to move to a new way of studying the phenomena of life. In April 1961, people first appeared in space. This day can be called the moment of the appearance of the space branch of science. In the pre-Darwinian period of development of biology, this was impossible to imagine. Already in the seventies, scientists began to work on genetic engineering, which allowed medicine to discover completely new perspectives.
The modern period and the future of science
The twenty-first century has made knowledge incredibly accessible to humans. Biology is widely studied, the 9th grade of high school allows children to learn more about zoology, botany and anatomy than they have been able to study in a century, and the prospects for science seem truly brilliant. The division of individual areas into new disciplines continues - helminthology, arachnoentomology, ornithology, mycology, bryology, immunology, bacteriology and many other sciences are developing. This differentiation allows specialists to concentrate on each specific task, accelerating the process of obtaining information about certain phenomena. At the same time, science is being integrated, which is why biochemistry, cytogenetics, and other areas are emerging.
Nevertheless, modern working methods are directly related to history. Scientists use the same methods as several centuries ago, but new technologies help them to convert the obtained data. Unique equipment makes it possible to conduct experiments in a completely different way, which used to be just simple experiments, and now can lead to revolutionary results. Further prospects suggest impressive scientific and technological progress, which will make it possible to better study genetics, physiology and many other branches of biology, which also makes it possible to hope for the maximum development of medicine, which can change both the duration and conditions of human life.