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History of biology practice examen and prepnames and preparatory questions
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1 Oefententamen1.1 Multiple choice questions
Aristotle was:
- A typical example of Greek deductive reasoning
- A typical example of empirical reasoning
- A typical example of a fruitful combination of theory and precise, systematic observation in
the field
A little bit of all of the above: a lot depends on later interpretation
The interpretation of Aristotle as a biologist has been very diverse throughout history, either
stressing theorising or empirical detail, or the combination, All this is very much a matter of later
interpretation and often depended on how people wanted to use Aristotle to defend their own
position
In Antiquity, biology followed in the footsteps of Empire, that is:
From the Hellenic Alexandria with Hypathia and the Museum, via
Rome with Galen and Celsus, to the Byzantine Constantinople.
Think about the map of shifting empires and cultural centre of gravity in the
Mediterranean.
The authority of Classic Greek texts started to be questioned in the West:
In the 15th and 16th century, by alchemists such as Paracelsus, artist-inventors such as
Da Vinci, and free-thinking scientists such as Vesalius.
This picture shows Vesalius performing public dissections in Padua.
Paracelsus, Linnaeus and Hans Sloane shared the then typical combination of:
An interest in botany and medicine.
Which statement is correct?
The history of taxonomy was not gradual and cumulative, but presents dead-ends and
abandoned systems, after which developments took new turns, while competing traditions
continued to exist next to each other.
See Linnaeus’ table of the kingdom of animals.
After the 17th c, botanic gardens (such as the Leiden or Amsterdam Hortus) collected:
Plants and crops from all over the world.
Darwin got his inspiration from:
Economists, evolutionary theorists (Lamarck), geologists, but also pigeon breeders.
The 19th century phrenology was
The popular science that tried to connect deviant behaviour and psychological traits to the
shape and size of the skull, limbs, or body
, Phrenology believed over-developed parts of the brain could be recognised on the skull.
The public reception and interpretation of Darwin in the 19th century can be best characterised as:
Confliction: some found in Darwinism an argument for free competition, while others found
an argument to rise above a ‘life as beasts’.
Karl Marx, the father of communism, wanted to overcome ‘a life as beasts’. He argued Darwin saw
the brute laws of capitalism in nature, but that society had to move beyond this.
The theory of miasma as a cause of illness:
Seemed to work rather well until the 19 th century, also because contagion-based ideas of
quarantine did not appear effective in a lot of diseases.
Robert Koch (1843-1920) was a campaigner against miasma theories.
During the Scientific Revolution, new laboratories originated at:
At academies of science, because most universities had become conservative and were not
interested in the new natural philosophy.
Microscopes:
Go back at least to the 17th century, but became important for the development of the
experimental style only much later.
e.g. Hooke’s micropgraphia
Examples of so-called ‘positive eugenics’ include:
Galton’s plan to have people with ‘superior genes’ marry in Westminster, or the medals for
families with the ‘Best genes’ of the Eugenics society.
Eugenics in the West:
Was already in decline before the Second World War because of doubts over scientific
validity, but continued to be used for decades, in spite of the excesses of the Nazi’s.
e.g. compulsory sterilisation
In 1882, Walther Flemming (the name is unimportant) looked through his microscope and saw:
Coloured wires at cell division, which he called chromatin, but he had no idea what they
were.
The important breakthroughs in genetics of Thomas Hunt Morgan and his group came about by:
The use of a convenient model organism, the creation of mutations by means of radiation,
and meticulous microscopic research. (Studying fruit flies)
Lysenko’s biology was abandoned as official state biology:
After a decade of hesitant criticism, following Stalin’s death. (in 1964)
Lysenko’s story also acquired an ideological meaning in the West:
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