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'''Biology''' is the [[science]] of [[life]]. Biologists study all aspects of living things, including the processes in organisms that enable life. These basic processes include the making and harnessing of energy, the creation and duplication of the materials that make up the body, and the healing of injuries. | '''Biology''' is the [[science]] of [[life]]. Biologists study all aspects of living things, including the processes in organisms that enable life. These basic processes include the making and harnessing of energy, the creation and duplication of the materials that make up the body, and the healing of injuries. | ||
Life forms have been of interest to all peoples throughout history. Detailed knowledge about plants and animals has improved people's standard of living through [[agriculture]] and [[animal husbandry]]. Biology differs from the general human interest in plants, animals and our own bodies by using a systematic approach to study. | Life forms have been of interest to all peoples throughout history. Detailed knowledge about plants and animals has improved people's standard of living through [[agriculture]] and [[animal husbandry]]. Biology differs from the general human interest in plants, animals and our own bodies by using a systematic approach to study. Biologic studies of animals fall under the field of [[zoology]], where as the biologic study of plants is [[botany]]. | ||
The natural history of plants and animals was the first area of biology to develop. | The natural history of plants and animals was the first area of biology to develop. In [[natural history]], whole organisms are studied in an attempt to make sense of the order of Nature. When the natural history of plants and animals are considered in a context of how each affects the other and their environment, then the biologist's focus is on [[ecology]]. Some fields of biology are focused on the natural history of living organisms and their interactions within a certain realm of the earth, as in [[marine biology]], and other fields of biology focus on charcteristics of the bodies of living organisms, like [[Anatomy]] and [[Physiology]]. | ||
A workable classification of living things was made practical by Linneas using a form of systematic nomenclature he invented. | A workable classification of living things was made practical by Linneas using a form of systematic nomenclature he invented. | ||
Revision as of 11:49, 1 November 2006
(from Greek βίος λόγος)
Biology is the science of life. Biologists study all aspects of living things, including the processes in organisms that enable life. These basic processes include the making and harnessing of energy, the creation and duplication of the materials that make up the body, and the healing of injuries.
Life forms have been of interest to all peoples throughout history. Detailed knowledge about plants and animals has improved people's standard of living through agriculture and animal husbandry. Biology differs from the general human interest in plants, animals and our own bodies by using a systematic approach to study. Biologic studies of animals fall under the field of zoology, where as the biologic study of plants is botany.
The natural history of plants and animals was the first area of biology to develop. In natural history, whole organisms are studied in an attempt to make sense of the order of Nature. When the natural history of plants and animals are considered in a context of how each affects the other and their environment, then the biologist's focus is on ecology. Some fields of biology are focused on the natural history of living organisms and their interactions within a certain realm of the earth, as in marine biology, and other fields of biology focus on charcteristics of the bodies of living organisms, like Anatomy and Physiology.
A workable classification of living things was made practical by Linneas using a form of systematic nomenclature he invented.
Early experimental biology revealed the circulation of the blood (Harvey), the
History of the word "biology"
Formed by combining the Greek βίος (bios), meaning 'life', and λόγος (logos), meaning 'study of', the word "biology" in its modern sense seems to have been introduced independently by Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus (Biologie oder Philosophie der lebenden Natur, 1802) and by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (Hydrogéologie, 1802). The word itself is sometimes said to have been coined in 1800 by Karl Friedrich Burdach, but it appears in the title of Volume 3 of Michael Christoph Hanov's Philosophiae naturalis sive physicae dogmaticae: Geologia, biologia, phytologia generalis et dendrologia, published in 1766.
History
Major discoveries in biology include:
External links
- [1] The American Institute of Biological Sciences (ABIBS) Virtual Library is free to all visitors