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322 BCE
Aristotle
Was the first to introduced the classification of oranisms by type and binomial definition and was the first to attempt to classify all the kinds of animals by similarities. -
Andrea Cesalpino
Began classifying plants on the basis of the structure of their fruits and seeds -
Light microscope
Led to the discovery of cells and the realisation that organisms should be categorised according to similar cells -
Gaspard Bauhin
Described six thousand species and gave them names based on their "natural affinities," grouping them into genus and species. -
John Ray
Became the first person to divide flowering plants into monocots and dicots. -
Augustus Rivinus
Introduced the taxon of 'order' -
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Introduced the taxons of 'class' and 'species' -
Carl Linnaeus
Created the overall framework of classification that organized all plants and animals from the level of kingdoms all the way down to specids. -
Phase contrast microscope
This enabled the study and observation of living organisms without destroying them and allowing their characteristics, movements and structure to be observed. -
Ernst Haeckel
Created 3 Kingdom Classification system consisting of Animalia, Plantae and Protista. -
Carbon-14 Dating
This uses the rate of decay of Carbon to estimate the age of young fossils. -
DNA
The DNA is used to identify differences and similarities between organisms and therefore classify the species on similarities of cells rather then basic structure. -
Electron microscope
Discovered a separate multi-cellular Eukaryotic kingdom. -
Robert Whittaker
Created 5 kingdoms classification system: Animalia, Plantae, Fungi, Prostista and Monera. -
Carl Woese
Created 3 domain classification system: Bacteria, Archaea and Eukaryota.
