Timeline of zoology

Last updated

This is a chronologically organized listing of notable zoological events and discoveries.

Contents

Ancient World

Lascaux aurochs, Stone Age Lascaux painting.jpg
Lascaux aurochs, Stone Age
"Blue Monkeys" Bronze Age Akrotiri Akrotiri blue monkeys.jpg
"Blue Monkeys" Bronze Age Akrotiri
Apollo with a sacred crow Apollo black bird AM Delphi 8140.jpg
Apollo with a sacred crow
Peacock endpapers from the Vienna Dioscurides ViennaDioscoridesEndpaperPeacock.jpg
Peacock endpapers from the Vienna Dioscurides

Middle Ages

Isidoro di siviglia, etimologie
,. Bruxelles, Bibliotheque Royale Albert I Isidoro di siviglia, etimologie, fine VIII secolo MSII 4856 Bruxelles, Bibliotheque Royale Albert I, 20x31,50, pagina in scrittura onciale carolina.jpg
Isidoro di siviglia, etimologie,. Bruxelles, Bibliothèque Royale Albert I
Ploughing with oxen in the 15th century. Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry Detail of Les tres riches heures - March.jpg
Ploughing with oxen in the 15th century. Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
Falconry Manesse Codex, Zurich Konradin.jpg
Falconry Manesse Codex, Zürich
Bartholomaeus Anglicus, Vanden proprieteyten der dighen
. Haarlem: Jacob Bellaert, 24. December 1485 Haarlem Woodcutter.jpg
Bartholomaeus Anglicus, Vanden proprieteyten der dighen. Haarlem: Jacob Bellaert, 24. December 1485

Modern World

A comparison of the skeleton of birds and man in Belon's book on birds, 1555 BelonBirdSkel.jpg
A comparison of the skeleton of birds and man in Belon's book on birds, 1555

17th Century

Title plate of Historia Naturalis Brasiliae Historia-Naturalis-Brasiliae.jpg
Title plate of Historia Naturalis Brasiliae

18th Century

Ants, spiders and hummingbird. Plate from Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensis Guavenzweig.jpg
Ants, spiders and hummingbird. Plate from Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensis
Statue of Buffon in the Jardin des Plantes
in Paris. GLBuffon.jpg
Statue of Buffon in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris.
Route of the First voyage of James Cook Karte Cook Seereise nr1.png
Route of the First voyage of James Cook
Eulemur mongoz, plate from Johann Schreber's Histoire naturelle des quadrupedes representes d'apres nature Eulemur mongoz Schreber.jpg
Eulemur mongoz , plate from Johann Schreber's Histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes représentés d´après nature
Plaque commemorating Christian Konrad Sprengel Christian-Konrad-Sprengel 0118 a.jpg
Plaque commemorating Christian Konrad Sprengel

19th Century

Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jean-baptiste lamarck2.jpg
Portrait of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
A watercolour of HMS Beagle HMS Beagle by Conrad Martens.jpg
A watercolour of HMS Beagle
1842 Plate from Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle
by Charles d'Orbigny Dictionnaire universel Orbigny.jpg
1842 Plate from Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle by Charles d'Orbigny
Charles Darwin's 1859 publication On the Origin of Species revolutionised zoology. Charles Darwin seated.jpg
Charles Darwin's 1859 publication On the Origin of Species revolutionised zoology.

20th Century

1901–1950

Prior to the discovery of a living example in 1938, coelacanths were thought to have been extinct for 65 million years. Latimeria chalumnae01.jpg
Prior to the discovery of a living example in 1938, coelacanths were thought to have been extinct for 65 million years.

1951–2000

21st Century

See also

Related Research Articles

This timeline of biology and organic chemistry captures significant events from before 1600 to the present.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conrad Gessner</span> Swiss physician, bibliographer and naturalist (1516–1565)

Conrad Gessner was a Swiss physician, naturalist, bibliographer, and philologist. Born into a poor family in Zürich, Switzerland, his father and teachers quickly realised his talents and supported him through university, where he studied classical languages, theology and medicine. He became Zürich's city physician, but was able to spend much of his time on collecting, research and writing. Gessner compiled monumental works on bibliography and zoology and was working on a major botanical text at the time of his death from plague at the age of 49. He is regarded as the father of modern scientific bibliography, zoology and botany. He was frequently the first to describe species of plants or animals in Europe, such as the tulip in 1559. A number of plants and animals have been named after him.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jan Swammerdam</span> Dutch biologist and microscopist (1637–1680)

Jan or Johannes Swammerdam was a Dutch biologist and microscopist. His work on insects demonstrated that the various phases during the life of an insect—egg, larva, pupa, and adult—are different forms of the same animal. As part of his anatomical research, he carried out experiments on muscle contraction. In 1658, he was the first to observe and describe red blood cells. He was one of the first people to use the microscope in dissections, and his techniques remained useful for hundreds of years.

The history of zoology before Charles Darwin's 1859 theory of evolution traces the organized study of the animal kingdom from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of zoology as a single coherent field arose much later, systematic study of zoology is seen in the works of Aristotle and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This work was developed in the Middle Ages by Islamic medicine and scholarship, and in turn their work was extended by European scholars such as Albertus Magnus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Reinhold Forster</span> German naturalist (1729–1798)

Johann Reinhold Forster was a German Reformed (Calvinist) pastor and naturalist who made contributions to the early ornithology of Europe and North America. He is best known as the naturalist on James Cook's second Pacific voyage, where he was accompanied by his son Georg Forster. These expeditions promoted the career of Johann Reinhold Forster and the findings became the bedrock of colonial professionalism and helped set the stage for the future development of anthropology and ethnology. They also laid the framework for general concern about the impact that alteration of the physical environment for European economic expansion would have on exotic societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Blyth</span> English zoologist and pharmacist

Edward Blyth was an English zoologist who worked for most of his life in India as a curator of zoology at the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of ornithology</span>

The following is a timeline of ornithology events:

William Elford Leach was an English zoologist and marine biologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Francis Stephens</span> English entomologist and naturalist (1792-1852)

James Francis Stephens was an English entomologist and naturalist. He is known for his 12 volume Illustrations of British Entomology (1846) and the Manual of British Beetles (1839).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Baptist von Spix</span> German biologist (1781–1826)

Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix was a German biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. They constitute an important basis for today's National Zoological Collection in Munich. Numerous examples of his ethnographic collections, such as dance masks and the like, are now part of the collection of the Museum of Ethnography in Munich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otto Friedrich Müller</span> Danish zoologist

Otto Friedrich Müller, also known as Otto Friedrich Mueller was a Danish naturalist and scientific illustrator.

<i>History of Animals</i> Work by Aristotle

History of Animals is one of the major texts on biology by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, who had studied at Plato's Academy in Athens. It was written in the fourth century BC; Aristotle died in 322 BC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Timeline of entomology – prior to 1800</span>

Entomology, the scientific study of insects and closely related terrestrial arthropods, has been impelled by the necessity of societies to protect themselves from insect-borne diseases, crop losses to pest insects, and insect-related discomfort, as well as by people's natural curiosity. Though many significant developments in the field happened only recently, in the 19th–20th centuries, the history of entomology stretches back to prehistory.

Entomology, the study of insects, progressed between 1800 and 1850, with the publication of important texts, definition of new orders such as Aphaniptera and Strepsiptera, and the shift to specialization. The following timeline indicates significant events in entomology in this time period.

Invertebrate zoology is the subdiscipline of zoology that consists of the study of invertebrates, animals without a backbone.

<i>Historia animalium</i> (Gessner book) 16th century book by Conrad Gessner

Historia animalium, published in Zurich in 1551–1558 and 1587, is an encyclopedic "inventory of renaissance zoology" by Conrad Gessner (1516–1565). Gessner was a medical doctor and professor at the Carolinum in Zürich, the precursor of the University of Zurich. The Historia animalium, after Aristotle's work of the same name, is the first modern zoological work that attempts to describe all the animals known, and the first bibliography of natural history writings. The five volumes of natural history of animals cover more than 4500 pages. The animals are presented in alphabetical order, marking the change from Middle Ages encyclopedias, or "mirrors" to a modern view of a consultation work.

<i>The Colours of Animals</i> 1890 book by Edward Bagnall Poulton

The Colours of Animals is a zoology book written in 1890 by Sir Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856–1943). It was the first substantial textbook to argue the case for Darwinian selection applying to all aspects of animal coloration. The book also pioneered the concept of frequency-dependent selection and introduced the term "aposematism".

<i>Le Règne Animal</i> Book by Georges Cuvier

Le Règne Animal is the most famous work of the French naturalist Georges Cuvier. It sets out to describe the natural structure of the whole of the animal kingdom based on comparative anatomy, and its natural history. Cuvier divided the animals into four embranchements, namely vertebrates, molluscs, articulated animals, and zoophytes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aristotle's biology</span> Aristotles theories of biology

Aristotle's biology is the theory of biology, grounded in systematic observation and collection of data, mainly zoological, embodied in Aristotle's books on the science. Many of his observations were made during his stay on the island of Lesbos, including especially his descriptions of the marine biology of the Pyrrha lagoon, now the Gulf of Kalloni. His theory is based on his concept of form, which derives from but is markedly unlike Plato's theory of Forms.

References

  1. Charles A. Reed. Animal Domestication in the Prehistoric Near East: The origins and history of domestication are beginning to emerge from archeological excavations. Science , Vol. 130, no. 3389 (December 11, 1959), pp. 1629–1639
  2. Lascaux, a visit to the cave.
  3. Bancroft, Edward (1769). An Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, in South America: Containing a Description of Many Curious Productions in the Animal and Vegetable Systems of that Country. Together with an Account of the Religion, Manners, and Customs of Several Tribes of Its Indian Inhabitants. Interspersed with a Variety of Literary and Medical Observations. T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt.
  4. Forster, Johann Reinhold (1771). A catalogue of the animals of North America. To which are added short directions for collecting, preserving and transporting all kinds of natural history curiosities. B. White.
  5. Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent; Laplace, Pierre Simon de (1982). Memoir on Heat: Read to the Royal Academy of Sciences, 28 June 1783. Neale Watson Acad. Publ.
  6. Darwin, Erasmus (1809). Zoonomia; Or, The Laws of Organic Life: In Three Parts : Complete in Two Volumes. Thomas & Andrews.
  7. Shaw, George; Nodder, Frederick Polydore (1799). "The Duck-Billed Platypus, Platypus anatinus". The Naturalist's Miscellany. 10 (CXVIII): 385–386. doi:10.5962/p.304567.
  8. Humboldt, Alexander von; Bonpland, Aimé (1815). Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, During the Years 1799-1804. M. Carey, no. 121 Chesnut street. Dec. 23. [Geo. Phillips, Printer, Carlisle.]
  9. Lenay, Charles (Dec 2000). "Hugo De Vries: from the theory of intracellular pangenesis to the rediscovery of Mendel". Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences, Série III. 323 (12): 1053–1060. doi:10.1016/S0764-4469(00)01250-6. PMID   11147091 via Elsevier.
  10. Bateson, Patrick (2002). "William Bateson: a biologist ahead of his time". Journal of Genetics. 81 (2): 49–58. doi:10.1007/BF02715900. PMID   12532036. S2CID   26806110 via Springer Link.
  11. Lorenz, Konrad (1937). "The Companion in the Bird's World". The Auk. 54 (3): 245–273. doi:10.2307/4078077. JSTOR   4078077 via JSTOR.
  12. Griffin1 Galambos2 (1941). "The sensory basis of obstacle avoidance by flying bats". Journal of Experimental Zoology. 86 (3): 481–506. Bibcode:1941JEZ....86..481G. doi:10.1002/jez.1400860310 via Wiley.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. Alexandra Kerbl, Nicolas Bekkouche, Wolfgang Sterrer & Katrine Worsaae, "Detailed reconstruction of the nervous and muscular system of Lobatocerebridae with an evaluation of its annelid affinity", BMC Evolutionary Biology volume 15, Article number: 277 (2015), https://bmcecolevol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12862-015-0531-x
  14. Zoological Society of Nigeria https://zoologicalsocietyofnigeria.com/.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)