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Thomas Fairchild
Thomas Fairchild, the forgotten father of the flower garden, creates Europe's first hybrid plant.
http://www.isaaa.org/Kc/inforesources/publications/biotechinagriculture/Biotech_Timeline_.htm
en.wikipedia.org -
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Period: to
Biotechnology History
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Anton van Leeuwenhoek
Anton van Leeuwenhoek uses his microscopes to make discoveries in microbiology. He is the first scientist to describe protozoa and bacteria and to recognise that micro-organisms might play a role in fermentation.
oudeennieuwekerkdelft.nl -
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Turbevill Needham
Turberville Needham heated various soups or "infusions" all of which eventually teem with life; he concluded "there is a vegetative Force in every microscopical Point of Matter..." in support of the idea of spontaneous generation.
www.mancia.org -
Cultivation of legumes
European farmers increase cultivation of legumes (to fix nitrogen in the soil) and rotate crops to increase yield.
http://www.isaaa.org/Kc/inforesources/publications/biotechinagriculture/Biotech_Timeline_.htm -
Smallpox vaccine
Edward Jenner invents the smallpox vaccine -
Lazaro Spallanzani
Lazaro Spallanzani described ingeniously crafted experiments using "hermetically sealed" flasks heated in boiling water to test the possibility of using heat to kill all the microbes in an "infusion" (liquid growth medium).
http://www.accessexcellence.org/RC/AB/BC/1750-1900.php -
Advancing
By the 1800s, biotechnology developments were being advanced by interdisciplinary scientific investigations that blended biology, chemistry and physics -
Biology
The word "biology" first appears.
http://www.biotechinstitute.org/go.cfm?do=Page.View&pid=22