Biology: Notable Biologists (and their Works and Contributions)

Anaximander of Miletus (Fact 1)

Considered the earliest Greek and Western Evolutionist since he acknowledged the existence and significance of fossils, explaining that animals came from the seas a long time ago and that humans spent a large portion of this transition from animal to human inside the bodies of big fish to protect themselves from the awful climate of the time until the fish (and thus the humans) adapted to dry land when they emerged onto it

Anaximander of Miletus (Fact 2)

Considered the earliest Greek and Western Evolutionist since he wrote that, "...life comes from the sea, and by means of adaptation to environment the present forms of animals were evolved [...] in the beginning man was born from animals of another species, for while other animals quickly find nourishment for themselves, man alone needs a lengthy period of suckling, so that had he been originally as he is now, he could never have survived..."

Anaximander of Miletus (Fact 3)

Considered the first Greek and first Western thinker to think in terms of evolution, considered the "Father of Evolution"

Anaximander of Miletus (Theory 1)

Considered the first Greek and first Western thinker to hypothesize and/or think that life changes over time

Anaximander of Miletus (Theory 2)

Hypothesized that the first types of animals were fish-like and water-based and that the first animals formed in the sea and that animals who first lived in the sea lived in a thorny cocoon-like bark of a tree in the waters upon which the bark would wash up on shore, crack open, and form it would emerge a more sophisticated or land-enabled animal

Anaximander of Miletus (Theory 3)

Hypothesized that humans must have come from animals because humans nurture their children for several years compared to animals who nurture their children for much less of a time

Anaximander of Miletus (Theory 4)

Believed that humans used to grow to puberty inside animals before coming out on their own since this is how long it takes for human children to be nurtured

Anaximander of Miletus (Theory 5)

Hypothesized that humans had to spend part of this transition from water to land inside the mouths of big fish to protect themselves from the Earth's climate, until they had time to be able to adapt to dry land at the point when they emerged onto it

Eugene Dubois (Fact 1)

Discovered the "Java Man" (Homo Erectus) in 1891

Al-Jahiz (Fact 1)

8th Century Arab Scholar who made observations about competition and predation among organisms implicating that the evidence Charles Darwin eventually used was there for a long time for other scientists to pick up on