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384 BCE
Aristotle 384 - 322 B.C.
Aristotle was the first to organise living things into categories. He created the first classification system and divided it into two groups Animals and Plants. These were then divided into three subgroups:
Animal Subgroup: Air, Water, Land
Plant Subgroup: Small, Medium, Large
due to its rudimentary nature some living things fitted into multiple subgroups such as the frog.
His classification was used right up until the 1600's. -
372 BCE
Theophrastus 372 - 287 B.C.
Theophrastus was Aristotle's student and was considered the 'father of Botany'.
Theophrastus was thought to have planted the first botanical garden in Aristotles Lyceum.
Theophrastus revised Aristotles subgroup classification of plants into trees, shrubs, herbaceous perennials, and herbs. -
Cesalpino 1524-1603
Cesalpino edited Theopharstus's plant subgroup classification into two main groups:
1. Trees and Shrubs
2. Under shrubs and Herbs
These were then divided relating to their flower and fruiting habit. -
Period of exploration
Between Theophrastus's and Cesalpino's revision of Aristotles classification system and the 16th century AD no revision of the classification system occurred but European exploration laced many plants animals into this classification system. -
John Ray 1627-1705
Rays contribution to taxonomy was to use the concept of species as a way to classify organisms thoroughly.
He also gave information of each plants pharmacological and medicinal qualities.
He was the first to separate plants into monocotyledons and dicotyledons.. -
Carolus Linnaeus 1707 - 1778
Carl Linnaeus developed a way of naming, organising and classifying species, as well as developing a hierarchical classification system and a binomial naming system.
Linnaeus’s hierarchical classification system had two kingdoms: Plantae and Animalia.
The kingdoms were then divided into class, then order, then genus, then species. -
Ernst Haeckel 1834-1919
Ernst Haeckel proposed that a third kingdom be added so that these species such as bacteria, protozoa, fungi and other microorganisms could be added to the new kingdom Protista.
This was due to microscopy advancements allowing more to been seen than by the naked eye. -
Robert Whittaker 1920 - 1980
Invention of the electron microscope allowed new biological information to be accessed.
This lead to Robert Whittaker conceiving a five kingdom classification system of:
Animalia, Plantae, Protista, Monera and Fungi. -
Carl Woese 1928 - 2012
Advances in genetic work, the category of Monera was no longer valid.
Woese discovered a group of prokaryotic organisms and classified them as bacteria named them Archaebacteria.
Sequencing of RNA,DNA,protein and differences in biochemical characteristics, showed that Archaebacteria were more closely related to the eukaryotes and was placed in domain Archea.
Carl Woese suggested that there be a higher classification over kingdom called domain, which there were three:
Archea
Bacteria
Eukaryota
