A brief history of the development of zoology. The main stages in the development of zoology

People have been interested in the living organisms that surround them since ancient times. To study them was helped by such a science as zoology. How did it come about and at what stage of development is it now?

Ancient knowledge

The history of the development of science "zoology" goes back to ancient times. Already before our era people were able to accumulate a sufficient amount of knowledge about the role that animals can play, how they are arranged and connected. The beginning of science can be counted the work of Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist. He wrote the works On Parts of Animals and other works on the history and origin of organisms, where he described 452 species. He also owns significant discoveries about the structure of living organisms. Another outstanding scientist was Pliny the Elder, who created the multi-volume "Natural History". In this book he gave descriptions of all animals known at that time to mankind. This was the best treatise, which then could be used by the science of zoology.

The Middle Ages and the Renaissance

In times of feudalism, Europe was severely disunited, and religion dominated society, which hampered the development of any sciences. Therefore, a brief history of the development of zoology describes this period as a moment of absolute stagnation. No new discoveries and significant works were written, almost no one studied animals. The situation changed greatly during the Renaissance. Enumerating the main stages in the development of zoology, we can not fail to mention the period when famous travelers such as Magellan, Columbus and Marco Polo allowed scientists to enrich knowledge by bringing information about creatures from distant continents previously unknown to Europeans. Revival was the time of accumulation of knowledge, which required further systematization.

Time of heyday

The next period that the science of zoology went through was the time of generalization of existing knowledge about the fauna of different parts of the planet. The most outstanding in this regard was the Swiss scientist Hesper, who wrote a vast encyclopedia "Animal History."

In the seventeenth century a microscope was invented. A brief history of the development of zoology marks this moment as one of the most significant. Scientists were able to discover a new world of the smallest organisms, as well as study the finest structures of multicellular organs. In this field, the Dutch naturalist Levenguk, who created the four-volume "Secrets of Nature, Discovered with the Microscope", stands out. It was he who discovered the existence of infusorians, studied red blood cells and muscle tissue of animals. Another serious scientist of those times was the Italian Malyshgi, who described the circulatory system and capillaries of vertebrates, thoroughly studied the excretory organs and integuments of various species.

Emergence of new industries

A brief history of the development of zoology will be incomplete without a description of the period that has become the beginning for many modern branches of science. Until the eighteenth century, such sections as animal taxonomy and paleontology, dealing with the study of fossils, arose. Incredible development happened in the field of physiology, where scientists worked Servet and Garvey, described in detail the circulatory system. Cuvier developed an important principle of correlation, which explained the relationship of internal organs and the results of influence on one of them in the context of all the others. His significant works are "The Kingdom of Animals" and "The Iconography of the Animal Kingdom." The latter included 450 tables and 6,200 drawings, which are used in educational literature even now. Another important book is "Reasoning about the upheavals on the surface of the globe and about the changes that they have made." This work outlined the theory of the distribution of fossils over the layers of the planet.

Discoveries of Darwin

The next period, which includes a brief development of zoology, is the time of studying evolutionary theory and its affirmation as the basis of all science. People became interested in the ideas of the gradual development of living nature from the simplest forms of beings to complex ones. The development of this theory was facilitated not only by the discoveries of Darwin, but also by the works of Schwapn and Schleidep, which made it possible to form an idea of the unity of the animal and plant world. Another outstanding scientist was Lamarck. He developed the systematics proposed by Linnaeus, and carefully studied the world of invertebrates. The work "Philosophy of Zoology", which was published in 1809, became one of the most important in his career - in it the scientist refuted the metaphysical views that animals always remain unchanged, and he unequivocally expounded the theory of evolution, in which organisms are transformed under the influence of external and Internal processes. Timiryazev considered this theory to be one of the most comprehensive, so it can be safely included in the list of important periods that make up the main stages in the development of zoology.

Modern period

A short history of the development of zoology ends in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This is the time of the emergence of new technologies for studying the subject, global discoveries and strong branching of science. The development of zoology is directly related to the growth of agriculture and livestock, hunting and other similar areas. In addition, the interest in protecting human health is affected. At the moment, mankind owns a huge amount of factual and theoretical information. The process of further data acquisition proceeds by creating well-equipped zoological expeditions that are sent to remote areas of the planet. No less significant are the work on the molecular and genetic level, as well as works that study the animal world from the point of ecological safety and health. The problems of eating meat, experimenting with the cloning and modification of DNA chains, as well as the cultivation of agricultural species that lead to environmental pollution, are of particular concern to scientists in the first place. Therefore, the prospects for further development should be linked precisely to these issues, which definitely will not lose relevance for the scientific community and in the next few decades.