\[ **BT: [[science]]** ] --- # biology Also known as **life science**, biology is one of two branches that—together—make up [[knowledge#natural science|natural science]]. The other branch is [[knowledge#physical science|physical science]].[^1] --- ## fields Biology can be broken down into *so many* specialised fields. Some include: - [[botany]] - [[cellular biology]] - [[developmental biology]] - [[ecology]] - [[evolutionary biology]] - [[molecular biology]] - [[physiology]] - [[classification of living things|taxonomy]] - [[zoology]] --- ## history of biology ### biological sciences in the ancient world The earliest roots of biology—including medicine—can be found all the way back in [[history--West Asia#Egypt|ancient Egypt]] and [[history--West Asia#Mesopotamia|Mesopotamia]] around 3000 to 1200 BCE.[^2] [[Per Ayala and Avise (2014), ‘The idea that different kinds of organisms can be transformed one into another, including humans into animals and dragons into human form, is a familiar theme in the mythology of many cultures.’]][^3] #### ancient Greece [[Anaximander ‘proposed that animals could metamorphose from one kind into another’.]][^4] [[Empedocles ‘speculated that organisms were made up of various combinations of pre-existing parts. Some of these organisms would be successful and thus become, by a kind of natural selection, those that continue to exist.’]][^5] ##### Plato [[Plato proposed that all objects—including living organisms—we can ‘perceive with our senses’ are merely ‘imperfect representations of forms, which are prefect and timeless but transcend our perceptions.’]][^6] ##### the atomists of ancient Greece [[Per Grmek (1972), ‘The first consistent mechanical theory of nature was formulated by the Greek atomists, Leucippus and Democritus, and developed by their later followers, Epicurus and Lucretius’ prior the end of the 4th century BCE.]][^7] [[According to the ancient Greek atomists, ‘human and animal bodies are composed by atoms, and all life manifestations are only the results of complicated, but strictly determined by motions of these elementary particles.]][^8] [[The ‘heavy atoms of the body are moved by the soul. Yet this Epicurean “soul” is not a spiritual principle, but a collection of very light and small atoms. Mind is an ensemble of extremely small atoms.’]][^9] ###### Aristotle [[The Aristotelian concept of 'the soul as the essential distinction between living and nonliving things' dominated the European view for centuries.]][^8] [[Aristotle’s views on motion are coloured by the fact that all ancient machines required an external energy source—animal (or human animal) labour. Thus, ‘the animal body is really moved by desire, a strictly vital property … only … explained by soul.’]][^10] [[It’s important to remember that ‘motion’, to Aristotle, means much more than the modern word. It is movement, yes, but also ‘creation and destruction, alteration, and increase and decrease'.]][^11] [[In Aristotelian thought, ‘Nature cannot be explained only in terms of material translation. Every motion has not only a direction, but also a purpose. … terrestrial motions are … a search for perfection.’]][^12] ##### the ‘Methodists’ of ancient Rome Followers of the teachings of the Grecian atomists, with a [[medicine--history|medicine-based]] focus.[^13] [[At the height of the Roman empire, Asclepiades and Themison founded the ‘Methodists’. Their teachings conceived of ‘the human body as a network of fibers. Between the fibers were pores, in which atoms of various shapes were thought to circulate.’]][^14] ##### Northern Europe [[Snorri wrote that ancient people saw that the Earth was alive, and that people ‘realised that she was extremely old in years and mighty in nature. She fed all living things, and took to herself everything that died.’]][^11] ##### the Renaissance ii. The influence of advances in printing, mining, metallurgy, and other areas of technology: the demands placed upon science by increases in trade and exploration ii. The coexistence of new scientific discoveries and old philosophical views ###### Descartes It was [[Descartes, René|Descartes]], in the 1600s, who proposed [[In the 1600s, Descartes proposed that the ‘the human body works like a machine and the organism’s physiological functions can be explained as operating in a way mechanically similar to clocks’.|’the human body works like a machine and the organism’s physiological functions can be explained as operating in a way mechanically similar to clocks’]].[^9] ###### Bacon ![[Bacon, Novum organum, 1994#^74031d]] ###### biology in the 17th and 18th centuries 1. The discovery of the circulation of blood 2. The establishment of scientific societies 3. The development of the microscope: the classical microscopists ###### classification and taxonomy - see: [[classification of living things#history of biological classification]] %% ### history of biology in the modern world ##### biology in the 19th century 1. The effect of geographical explorations on the development of the biological sciences 2. The development of cell theory: the establishment of cellular biology 3. The theory of evolution: the impact of the concept of natural selection 4. The rise of embryology: discoveries concerning reproduction and development of organisms 5. The emergence of genetics: the study of heredity and its mechanisms ##### biology in the 20th century 1. The establishment of molecular biology 2. The one-gene, one-enzyme theory and its effects 3. The discovery of the genetic significance of DNA and RNA: deciphering the genetic code 4. The emergence of intradisciplinary specialties; e.g., cell physiology, cytochemistry, ecology, population biology 5. The application to biology of the concepts and techniques of other sciences: the development of biochemistry and biophysics, the importance of biological discoveries to medicine and agriculture %% --- ## glossary - [[evolution]] - [[male norm]] - [[paced mating]] - [[phenotype]] - [[polyphenic trait]] [^1]: ‘Natural Science’, Wikipedia, last edited 8 May 2026, 05:47 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_science. [^2]: ‘Biology’, Wikipedia, last edited 1 May 2026, 09:16 (UTC), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biology. [^3]: Francisco J. Ayala and John C. Avise, ‘Introduction’, in *[[Ayala and Avise, Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology, 2014|Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology]]* (John Hopkins University Press, 2014), p. xi. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0](http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0). [^4]: Francisco J. Ayala and John C. Avise, ‘Introduction’, in *[[Ayala and Avise, Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology, 2014|Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology]]* (John Hopkins University Press, 2014), p. xi. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0](http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0). [^5]: Francisco J. Ayala and John C. Avise, ‘Introduction’, in *[[Ayala and Avise, Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology, 2014|Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology]]* (John Hopkins University Press, 2014), p. xi. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0](http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0). [^6]: Francisco J. Ayala and John C. Avise, ‘Introduction’, in *[[Ayala and Avise, Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology, 2014|Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology]]* (John Hopkins University Press, 2014), p. xi. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0](http://archive.org/details/essentialreading0000unse_x0j0). [^7]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 181. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^8]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 181. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^9]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 181. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^10]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 182. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^11]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 182. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^12]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 182. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^13]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 183. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733). [^14]: Mirko D. Grmek, ‘[[Grmek, ‘Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes’, 1972|A Survey of the Mechanical Interpretations of Life from the Greek Atomists to the Followers of Descartes]]’, in *Biology, History, and Natural Philosophy: Based on the Second International Colloquium Held at the University of Denver*, ed. Allen D. Breck and Wolfgang Yourgrau (Plenum Press, 1972), p. 183. Internet Archive, [http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733](http://archive.org/details/isbn_9780306305733).