This assignment consists of 10 questions and answers from the weekly questions of history of biology given by Willem Halfman. Each question had a maximum rating of 5 stars. For each answer it is given how many stars the answer got rated. In total 39 stars were given to these answers.
Assignment – Weekly Questions for History of Biology
This assignment consists of 10 questions and answers from the weekly questions of history of biology.
Each question had a maximum rating of 5 stars. For each answer it is given how many stars the
answer got rated. In total 39 stars were given to these answers.
1. Can you give examples of people who are sometimes considered ‘founding fathers’ (or
‘mothers’) of biology, or of specialties within biology? What are they said to have founded?
A father/mother of some science is someone who has made first significant contributions in some
scientific field (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Social Sciences...). (Rated 4 stars)
Because Aristotle is considered to be the founding father of Biology, because he was the first
who made some empirical observations. He is considered to be the first biologist by making
classifications on organisms, doing embryo studies and dissecting animals.
Charles Darwin, he is the founding father of the Evolution, he wrote a book, “The Origin of
Species”. He established that all the species have descended from common ancestors and the
mechanism of the evolution is the Natural Selection.
Gregor Mendel, he is the founding father of Genetics, his contribution was the study of
inheritance of traits in pea plants (inheritance known as Mendelian Inheritance).
Carolus Linneaus, he is the founding father of the taxonomy. He classified and named living
organisms and his method was/is universally accepted in science.
Antoine van Leeuwenhoek, he is the father of microbiology. He was the first to observe
microorganisms, such as bacteria and he was also the first to describe protozoa.
But when you look from another perspective, you can say that Aristoteles wasn't the first biologist.
Because before Aristotle there were already studies on medicine (by the Chinese), there was already
knowledge about agriculture (in Mesapotamia) and the Egyptians were probably the first who did
dissections (for their mummifications).
So actually it is dependent on your perspective who you can consider to be the actual founding father
of biology.
11. What is history of biology most useful for, in your opinion? (Rated 3 stars)
History can be used for several aspects. For example to learn from mistakes which were made in the
past. It helps to remind us to the problems we had and to the problems we still have because some
problems will return over and over again.
Also, the past gives an identity, knowing about your past or the past of your country helps with that.
Hereby it also is important that we stick to remembering the things that happened before, so that we
can't lose valuable knowledge.
I think that from these option the most useful aspect of learning the history of biology is that we can
learn from the past. We can improve ourselves by learning from mistakes that were made in the past.
31. Linnaeus’ inventory of Clifford’s plants opens with an allegoric image, glorifying both Clifford
and Linnaeus. How does it do so? (Rated 4 stars)
In the image, the first thing you will notice are the people in the centre. The crowned woman here
probably symbolises Mother Earth. She holds a key, which indicates that Mother Earth has the right
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