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Feb 9, 1543
Andreas Vesalius publishes the anatomy treatise De humani corporis fabrica.
Andreas Vesalius publishes the anatomy treatise De humani corporis fabrica. He made this book from common practice and by disecting a human corpse. -
Jan Swammerdam observed red blood cells under a microscope.
In 1668, 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. -
Anton van Leeuwenhoek observed protozoa and calls them animalcules.
Anton van Leeuwenhoek is commonly known as "the Father of Microbiology", and considered to be the first microbiologist. -
Anton van Leeuwenhoek observed spermatozoa.
A spermatozoon is a motile sperm cell, or moving form of the haploid cell that is the male gamete. -
Lazzaro Spallanzani again disproved spontaneous generation by showing that no organisms grow in a rich broth if it is first heated and allowed to cool in a stoppered flask.
Lazzaro Spallanzani was an Italian Catholic priest, biologist and physiologist who made important contributions to the experimental study of bodily functions, animal reproduction, and essentially discovered echolocation. -
Joseph Priestley demonstrated that plants produce a gas that animals and flames consume.
Those two gases are carbon dioxide and oxygen. He is usually credited with the discovery of oxygen, having isolated it in its gaseous state, although Carl Wilhelm Scheele and Antoine Lavoisier also have a claim to the discovery. -
Thomas Malthus discussed human population growth and food production in An Essay on the Principle of Population.
The book An Essay on the Principle of Population was first published anonymously in 1798 through J. Johnson. The author was soon identified as The Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus. While it was not the first book on population, it has been acknowledged as the most influential work of its era. -
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck began the detailed study of invertebrate taxonomy.
In an 1802 publication, he became one of the first to use the term biology in its modern sense. -
Charles Darwin came up with the theory of evolution
Natural selection is the process by which traits become more or less common in a population due to consistent effects upon the survival or reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution. -
Friedrich Miescher discovered nucleic acids in the nuclei of cells.
Nucleic acids are biological molecules essential for life, and include DNA and RNA. -
William Bateson coined the term "genetics" to describe the study of biological inheritance.
Genetics deals with the molecular structure and function of genes, with gene behavior in the context of a cell or organism. -
Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word "gene."
His most well-known research concerned so-called pure lines of the self-fertile common bean. He was able to show that even in populations homozygous for all traits, i.e. without genetic variation, seed size followed a normal distribution. -
Thomas Hunt Morgan proposesd that genes are arranged in a line on the chromosomes.
A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein that is found in cells. -
Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic, penicillin.
Penicillin antibiotics are historically significant because they are the first drugs that were effective against many previously serious diseases such as syphilis and Staphylococcus infections. -
Adolf Butenandt discovered androsterone.
Androsterone (ADT) is a steroid hormone with weak androgenic activity. It is made in the liver from the metabolism of testosterone. -
Robert Woodward synthesized cholesterol and cortisone.
He made many key contributions to modern organic chemistry, especially in the synthesis and structure determination of complex natural products, and worked closely with Roald Hoffmann on theoretical studies of chemical reactions. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1965. -
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin discovered the three-dimensional structure of vitamin B12.
Among her most influential discoveries are the confirmation of the structure of penicillin that Ernst Boris Chain had previously surmised, and then the structure of vitamin B12, for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. -
Arthur Kornberg discovered DNA polymerase enzymes.
DNA polymerases are best-known for their feedback role in DNA replication, in which the polymerase "reads" an intact DNA strand as a and uses it to synthesize the new strand. -
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin deciphered the three-dimensional structure of insulin.
Insulin is a hormone that is central to regulating carbohydrate and fat metabolism in the body. -
Hamilton Smith and Daniel Nathans discovered DNA restriction enzymes.
A restriction enzyme is an enzyme that cuts double-stranded or single stranded DNA at specific recognition nucleotide sequences known as restriction sites. -
Alec Jeffreys devised a genetic fingerprinting method.
DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier. -
French Anderson et al. performed the first approved gene therapy on a human patient.
Gene therapy is the insertion, alteration, or removal of genes within an individual's cells and biological tissues to treat disease. -
Dolly the sheep was first clone of an adult mammal.
Dolly was a female domestic sheep, and the first mammal to be cloned from an adult somatic cell, using the process of nuclear transfer. -
Publication of the first drafts of the complete human genome.
The genetic map of the human body's DNA, including chromosomes and genes. -
First virus produced 'from scratch', an artificial polio virus that paralyzes and kills mice.
Poliomyelitis is a viral disease that can affect nerves and can lead to partial or full paralysis. -
Rhazes distinguishes smallpox from measels
Rhazes distinguishes smallpox from measels. He also had the discovery of numerous compounds and chemicals including alcohol and kerosene -
Al-Dinawari founded Arabic Botany
Al-Dinawari is considered the founder of Arabic botany for his Book of Plants, in which he describes at least 637 plants and discussed plant evolution from its birth to its death, describing the phases of plant growth and the production of flowers and fruit. Not only was Al-Dinawari a scientist but also a astronomer, historian and a mathematician.
