History of Biology - 400

By aircon
  • 3600 BCE

    Egypt and Mesopotania; Biology in Aesthetic

    Had Menageries, Zoos, Botanical Garden
    Had Contents from Africa, Mediterratnion, Asia, etc.
  • 2700 BCE

    Imhopet (Person)

    • Architect, Physician, Polymath
    • Might have written surgical texts
    • Defied by Egyptians after death
  • 1600 BCE

    EDWIN SMITH PAYPYRUS (Written piece)

    • Oldest Medical Treatises
    • Contents might go back to 2700 BC
    • Discusses treatment and diagnosis of military injuries; Presented as 48 case histories
    • Contains little about magic
    • Shows knowledge of anatomy
    • Speculates Physiology
  • 1550 BCE

    EBERS PAPYRUS (written text)

    • Practical advice
    • Magic
    • 700 drugs and formulas
  • 1200 BCE

    Old Testament

    Contained cryptozoology - including the "unicorn" - reality was an ancient oxen
  • 650 BCE

    Thales of Miletus (person)

    First Natural Philosopher
    Left no writings
    Teachings;
    - The earth is a disc surrounded on all sides of water
    - Water is the beginning of all things; fundamental element
    - Forces that cause change in matter are consolidation (Mudflats) and expansion (Boiling Water)
  • 600 BCE

    Persian Formal Garden Plan

    (6th - 4th Century BC)
    Consisted 4 equal section separated by canals; garden surrounded by high walls
  • Period: 492 BCE to 432 BCE

    Empedocles - Person

    Materialist and Causal View of Nature
    Originator of 4 element model;
    Fire, air, water, earth composed everything
    Believed these elements combine and dissociate because of 2 forces;
    Love (Attraction) and Hate (Repulsion)
    Believed we thought with our blood
    thought Animals evolved from strange ancestors; "shadowed forth the principle of natural selection"
  • Period: 460 BCE to 360 BCE

    Democritus (person)

    Greek Philosopher
    "Laughing Philosopher"
    Father of Modern Science
    Atoms
    Life and soul same thing
    Atheist
  • Period: 460 BCE to 361 BCE

    Hippocrates (person)

    The Hippocratic Method
    Famous for Medicine
  • 424 BCE

    Clouds (play)

    Written by Aristophanes; mentions a burning lens for the first time as a plot point
  • 398 BCE

    Ctseias (person)

    Greek historian who lived in persia; first to mention Unicorns
  • Period: 384 BCE to 322 BCE

    Aristotle (person)

    Founder of Natural History, Writing was best kept through history
    Father of Polisci, Biology, Rhetoric, etc,
  • 334 BCE

    Lyceum: Aristotle's school established

    In Athens
    Fell apart
  • Period: 330 BCE to 260 BCE

    Herophilus (person)

    Physician and Antomists at Alexandria, Writings did not survive. Probably performed human dissections. Believed that the beating of the hearts transmits pulsations to the arteries; both veins and arteries carry blood.
  • Period: 310 BCE to 250 BCE

    Erasistratus (person)

    Physician and Anatomist at Alexandria, writings did not survive. Probably performed human dissections. Believed that arteries have blood only when it seeps from the tissues into the arteries, pathologically
  • 285 BCE

    Library and Museum of Alexandria

    700,000 scrolls at time of Cleopatra
    Museum was like a University
  • 200 BCE

    The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon (text)

    • Most important text in China
    • Lists many concepts for doctors; including chi, yin and yang, Micro v Macrocosm, 4 elements, all to help physician help patient
  • Period: 1 CE to 100

    Celsus (person)

    Wrote large encyclopedia; only De Medicina portion survived
  • Period: 1 CE to 100

    Physicians in Rome used burning lenses to create therapeutic burns

    a globe filled with water can magnify objects
  • Period: 23 to 79

    Pliny the Elder (person)

    Roman; Wrote a 37 Volume encyclopedia, Natural History - Became standard reference work for next 1500 years
  • 48

    Loss of Alexandria

  • 75

    Natural history; first ten book published

    written by Pliny the elder
  • Period: 130 to 200

    Galen of Pergamon (c. AD 130 - 200)

    Greek, most influential medical writer of all time, Most prestigious physician of Rome
  • Period: 395 to 476

    Fall of Rome

    Beginning the middle ages
  • Period: 570 to 632

    Muhammed (person)

    Founder of religion of Islam; Welcomed Education and inquiry into nature
  • 650

    Emerald Tablet (text)

    written by Hermes Trismegistos; mentions the elixir of life and philosopher's stone (I think)
  • Period: 701 to 1299

    Islamic Golden Age

  • 794

    Paper Making Plant in Bahgdad

    Helped expand learning in the Islamic Empire
  • Period: 962 to 1038

    Alhazen - Person

    also known as Ibn al-Haitham. "Father of Optics"; saw that a Transparent sphere can produce enlarged image, no practice used for this is suggested. Also describes how the lens of the eye produces an image on the retina
  • Period: 980 to 1037

    Avicenna (person)

    (or known as Abu Sina or Ibn Sina) Greatest Islamic intellectual of all, most important book was the Canon of Medicine
  • 1025

    Publishing of Canon of Medicine

    5 books, by Avicenna
  • 1080

    Constantine of Africa bringing Avicenna's books to the Salerna Medical College in Italy

    Avicenna's books then used till mid-17th century in Europe as a basis of the medical schools curriculum
  • Period: 1098 to 1179

    St. Hildegard of Bingen (person)

    Nun, Abbess, Mystic, Healer became a doctor of the Church after her death, First to put hops in beer
  • Period: 1168 to 1253

    Robert Grotsseteste - Person

    Described what appears to be telescopes - medieval philosopher and scientist
  • Period: 1194 to 1250

    Frederick ii of Hohenstaufen (person)

    Holy roman emperor, most important contribution to science was the Art of Falconry - about all birds, and actually original
  • Period: 1200 to 1280

    Albertus Magnus (or Doctor Universalis) - Person

    Medieval Naturalis, scholar, alchemist; made Aristotle popular
  • 1201

    Human dissection allowed in Islamic world

  • Period: 1213 to 1288

    Ibn an-Nafis (person)

    Islamic polymath; first to describe the pulmonary circulation of the blood. Questioned Galen
  • Period: 1214 to 1292

    Roger Bacon (person)

    St. Francis monk, theories on positions of the sun, medieval in spirit, Described telescope, eyeglasses, burning lenses and Magnifiers
  • 1224

    University of Naples established

    Established by Emperor Frederick the ii of Hohenstaufen. Still exists as the University of Naples Federico ii, and is the oldest state-supported university in the world.
  • Period: 1225 to 1274

    St. Thomas Aquinas (person)

    Doctor of the church, Magnus's pupil, greatest of scholastics, made a grand synthesis
  • 1231

    Salerno Medical College Chartered

    by Emperor Frederick ii of Hohenstaufen.
    Had Formal curriculum with standardized exams, many medical treatises. Similar to today's curriculum
  • Period: 1240 to 1311

    Arnold of Villanova - person

    Spanish alchemist
    first to create pure alcohol from distilled wine, and discovered carbon monoxide
  • 1317

    Pope John XXII bans Alchemy

  • 1330

    Friar Oderich of Portenau

    First to describe the Upas Tree (Tree of Death)
  • Period: 1347 to 1351

    Black Death

    30-60% of European population died
    Reconstructed the whole society
  • 1357

    Travels of Sir John Mandeville (book)

    Claimed Upas tree (death tree) made the deadliest poison in the world
  • 1440

    Printing Press

    Created by Johannes Gutenberg, with movable letters made out of durable metal
  • Period: 1452 to 1519

    Leonardo Da Vinci

    Artist, Scientist, Renaissance man; contributed a lot of art of dissections
  • Period: 1473 to 1543

    Copernicus (person)

    Astronomer; Made arguments for Heliocentric Model of Solar system (sun in center of solar system)
  • 1478

    De Medicina Printed

    one of the first medical books to be printed after invention of printing
  • Period: 1493 to 1541

    Paracelsus - person

    = better than Celsus, a Humanist philosopher, mystic and physician, focused a lot on chemistry and alchemy for treatments - believed in iatrochemistry thinking
  • 1501

    Introduction of Coffee in western Europe

  • Period: 1510 to 1559

    Realdo Colombo (person)

    anatomist, Vesalius's successor at university of Padua; accused Vesalius of anatomical errors in book. Wrote his own; Posthumous publication; argued for pulmonary circulation
  • Period: 1511 to 1553

    Micheal Servetus (person)

    Martyr to freedom of thought and conscious, Wandering (sometimes fleeing) student, scholar, physician and antomist; wrote Restoration of Christianity that argued for pulmonary circulation, which got him burnt to the stake
  • Period: 1514 to 1564

    Andreas Vesalius (person)

    First to produce a high quality book of human anatomy ever published, Named Fabric of the Human body
  • 1517

    Reformation; Religious revolution in Western Europe

    Initiated by Martin Luther, Catholics lost power; Christianity fractured into Catholic and Protestant camps
  • Period: 1537 to

    Girolamo Fabrici

    At University of Padua; wrote on the Valves in the Veins
  • 1543

    Publication of On the Motions of Heavenly Bodies

    By Copernicus - argued in favour of Heliocentric model of solar system
  • 1543

    Publishing of; On the Fabric of the Human body

    High-quality human anatomy book to ever be published, written by Andreas Vesalius; corrected Galen, was virtuous in anatomical correctness and high-quality illustrations
  • 1553

    Restoration of Christianity; published

    Written by Micheal Servetus, argued for pulmonary circulation
  • 1559

    Posthumous publication

    Written by Realdo Columbo, argued for pulomonary circulation
  • Period: 1564 to

    Galileo Galilei (person)

    Astronomer, Philosopher of Science, mathematician, etc.
    First to use the telescope; discovered celestial imperfections
  • Period: 1571 to

    Johannes Kepler (person)

    Astronomer; Kepler showed that planetary orbits are ellipses, not circles, and odd phenomenon that was later explained by Newton
    Expanded Copernicus ideas
  • Period: 1578 to

    William Harvey (person)

    Student of Fabrici's at University of Padua; physician of King James 1 and King Charles 1; also lectured at College of Physicians. Wrote On the movement of the Heart and Blood.
  • Period: 1579 to

    Jan Baptista Van Helmont - person

    Flemish mystic, physician and chemist; inspired by Paracelsus. Subscribed to approaches of iatrochemistry. Considered the first to have done an experiment of plant physiology with his famous willow tree experiment as it was quantitative.
  • Compound Microscope invented

    Inventors; Hans and Zacharias Jannsen, and Hans Lippershey (credited in 17nth century later on)
  • Period: to

    Rene Descartes - Person

    Model of living things; all mechanicism. Described everything to be mechanisism. Argued that humans had souls, while animals did not.
  • Promising start of biological microscopy

    ended up dying out till the 19nth century since it was a non literature pursuit
  • On the Valves in the Veins - Published

    Written by Girolamo Fabrici
  • Period: to

    Giovanni Borelli - person

    Gathered evidence that digestion consists of the mechanical pulverization of food. - beginning of biomechanics
  • Galileo build his own Compound microscope

  • Period: to

    Franciscus Sylvius - person

    Proposed that there is no archeus; putting iatrochemistry in new folding. interested in acids and alkalis. Created a medicine for kidney ailments; distilled grain spirit flavoured with juniper berries.
  • On the Movement of the Heart and Blood - Published

    Written by William Harvey; Argued for double blood circulation in both the pulmonary and Systemic circuits. Questioned Galen. Highlifhted mechanical aspects of organisms. A model of experimental, quantitative biology. First time anyone understood anything about how organisms work, apart from obvious external functions
  • Period: to

    Marcello Malpighi - Person

    Italian Biologist and Physician; Completed idea of circulation, observed early stages of Embryological development in chickens through microscope; began debate of how does a biological form develop?
  • First drawings of magnified biological objects

    BEES! observed by Francisco Stelluti
  • Period: to

    Antoni Van Leeuwenhoek - person

    Cloth merchant and scientific amateur; did many discoveries with his one lens microscopes like blood and circulation, microorganisms, generative cells and spontaneous generation.
  • Period: to

    Robert Hooke - person

    Curator of Royal Society in London; set up microscope demonstration for the Society's meetings. Wrote the Book Micrographia (1665)
  • Period: to

    Johann Becher - person

    Originator of Phlogiston concept
  • Period: to

    Sir Isaac Newton (person)

    astronomer, physicist, mathematician, philosopher of science; entrenched idea that the universe operates according to simple, universal, quantitative laws; formalized calculus
  • Period: to

    George Ernst Stahl

    modified and renamed terra pinguis into phlogiston; believed that the flame is heated air by the rush of phlogiston out of a rapidly burning material
  • Malphighi completes Harvey's model of circulation

    examined frog lungs and saw the capillary connections between arteries and veins
  • Micrographia - book published

    written by Robert Hooke; describes the elements of magnified cork as cells
  • Alicorn; Medicinal unicorn horn not believed anymore

    Was believed to reveal poison and be the antidote
  • Amoenitates Exocitae (amusing exotic things) (Book)

    Written by Dr. EngleBer Kampfer about the Death tree of Java;
    "Local people used criminals to collect sap because tree was deadly to approach; if criminal lived, he was set free as reward"
  • Period: to

    Jan Ingen-Housz - person

    Discovered photosynthesis
  • Period: to

    Joseph Priestley (person)

    given credit for discovering oxygen, which at the time called it dephlogisticated air.
  • Rumphius of the Dutch East India Company (person)

    Described Upas tree/Death tree that it had Poisonous gas emanates from tree, Could only approach tree if all skin was covered by fabric, No other plants frew tree, Dead birds littered ground underneath
  • Period: to

    Antoine Lavoisier - person

    nobleman- Abandoned phlogiston concept and renamed dephlogisticated air oxygen, head cut off during the reign of terror in france
  • Period: to

    Louis-Joseph Proust - person

    chemist; established the Law of Definite proportion
  • Period: to

    John Dalton - person

    realised Prousts result could be explained with atoms - furthered atomic theory
  • Article in London Magazine

    Described Upas/ Death tree tree; Danger zone had radius of 12 to 14 miles, Criminals assigned to collect sap equipped with leather caps, protective glasses and leather gloves, Priest living near danger zone blessed their efforts, Of 700 criminals who went to get sap, only 70 returned; ground underneath tree littered with dead bodies
  • Law of Definite proportions established

    Established by Louis-Joseph Proust; that elements combine in compound substances in simple, constant ratios by weight; not accepted till 1812
  • Period: to

    Friedrich Wohler - person

    Changed Umonium Sulphite to Urea
  • 19nth century; Intro of lenses with fewer aberations & clearer viewing

    Microscopic biology starting again after it fizzled out during the 17nth century
  • Leshenault sets to find the truth of the Death Tree

    French Naturalist; Saw that it poisoned the heart, nothing more
  • Law of definite proportions accepted

  • Period: to

    Hermann Kolbe - person

    Made something organic from something non organic
  • Rudolf Virchow (person)

    Father of Modern Pathology; Disproved Hippocratus's theory of Humours - Cell Theory
  • Period: to

    Ernst Mayr (person)

    Evolutionary Biologist and Historian of Biology; accused plato of impeding progress of biology for over 2000 years, through his anti evolutionary influence of Aristotle's biology
    Believed you can't make individual predictions, Population thinking; group that can be measured
  • Period: to

    Excavation of Piltdown Man

    "found" in Sussex south of London
  • Hoax of Piltdown man discovered

    Teeth and bones found to be modern-day
  • St. Hildeguard Finally being recognized as a saint