What is Science?

• Science is an organized body of knowledge supported by observation and experimentation, derived from the study of natural phenomena of the entire material universe.

• There are mainly three branches of Science:

  • Physics

  • Chemistry

  • Biology

    • Biology is the study of living beings i.e. all plants and animals including human beings.

Growth of Biology

• No one can say when the study of Biology began.

• Primitive man lived in jungles and caves

• He collected food from natural vegetation and hunted wild animals.

• Through this activity, he learned about the life and habits of different animals and recognized various plants and their parts.

• That was the beginning of Biology.

  • The drawings of animals and plants in the caves of prehistoric periods are proof of primitive man's interest in the plants and animals around him.

• With the evolution of culture, man began to live in settled communities and started farming.

  • He domesticated animals such as the dog, cow, sheep, horse and buffalo.

    • These practices gave him further opportunities for the study of the ways and life of these animals.

      • Thus biology grew more and more.

      • Greeks were probably the pioneers of an organized study of Biology.

• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) was the first person to study animals in sufficient detail and he is called the founder or “Father of Biology”.

• Theophrastus (370-285 B.C.) mainly studied plants, and is said to be the “Father of Botany”.

• Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) rationalized the science of healing and treating the sick.

  • He is called the “Father of Medicine”.

• Biology flourished a great deal in ancient India (2500 B.C. to 650 B.C.).

• Various systems of classifying animals and plants were developed, for example

  • Jeevaj (viviparous) animals who give birth to young one

  • Andaj (oviparous) animals who lay eggs, etc.

• The cultivation of rice was first introduced in India.

• It is estimated that more than 1,000 varieties of rice had been developed.

• With the invention of the microscope in the sixteenth century, a new world of minute animals and plants came to human knowledge.

  • The cell as the basic unit of living things was seen through the compound microscope.

• Biology now began to grow faster.

• In the nineteenth century, biology took several major leaps through the discovery of germs, wider acceptance of the theory of organic evolution, establishment of the cell theory, etc.

• Now, the twenty-first century is poised to unravel more mysteries of nature and miraculous innovations in medicine and agriculture.

• Biology has already progressed a great deal in the field of vitamins, hormones, genetics, genetic engineering, antibiotics, cancer research, cloning, stem cell research, organ transplant, environmental sciences, and life in outer. space, etc.

• The latest is that scientists are planning to create life, some single-celled bacteria, from lifeless material using fatty acids and nucleotides, etc.

Branches of Biology:

• Biology is divided into several branches.

This division can be made in at least three different ways:

In terms of major kinds of organisms.

• Botany — the study of plants.

• Zoology — the study of animals.

• Human Biology — the study of man as a living organism and his relationship with other living organisms. The study of man and human society comes under Anthropology (Gk. Anthropos: man; logos: study).

In terms of special groups of organisms.

• Bacteriology — the study of bacteria.

• Virology — the study of viruses.

• Mycology — the study of fungi

• Entomology — the study of insects.

• Ichthyology — the study of fishes.

• Herpetology — the study of lizards, and snakes. etc.

• Ornithology — the study of birds.

In terms of the approach to studying it.

• Anatomy — the study of the gross structure of an organism as seen in dissection.

• Morphology — the study of form and structure of plants and animals. It includes (essentially) the understanding and interpretation of structure (both external and internal).

  • [Sometimes students wrongly consider morphology to be concerned with the study of external parts only.]

• Histology — the study of the minute structure of tiny bits of the body as seen with the help of a compound microscope.

• Cytology — the study of the structure and function of animal and plant cells.

• Physiology — the study of functions and activities of organisms and their parts.

• Embryology — the study of the formation and development of embryos of plants and animals.

• Taxonomy — the science of naming, grouping, and classifying plants and animals. It is also called Systematics.

• Ecology — the study of the relationship of an organism to both its living and non-living environment.

• Biogeography  — the study of the geographical distribution of plants and animals.

• Paleontology — the study of prehistoric forms of life through fossils of plants and animals.

• Evolution — the study of the origin and descent of organisms.

• Genetics — the science of the transmission of body characteristics (both similarities and differences) from parents to offspring.

  • [A story, “MY  BEAUTY AND YOUR INTELLIGENCE!" It says that a young charming prostitute once approached the great litterateur Bernard Shaw with the proposal of marrying him so that the child they get shall be beautiful like her and intelligent like him. Shaw retorted saying if it happened the other way, that is, his appearance and her brain, then?].

    • This is just one of the aspects of Genetics.

• Parasitology — the study of parasites (the organisms that live on or inside other organisms and draw nourishment from the hosts).

• Immunology — the science that deals with the phenomena and causes of immunity (resistance to or defense against diseases).

• Pathology — the study of diseases of plants and animals.

• Eugenics — the science which aims to improve the human race through controlled heredity.

  • For example, discouraging a marriage that is likely to show unfavorable or harmful characteristics in children.

• Biochemistry — the study of chemicals and reactions that take place inside living things. One of its numerous applications is DNA fingerprinting.

Applications of Biology:

• Agriculture: raising crops and livestock

• Veterinary Science: treatment and surgery of animals

• Marine Biology: Study of life in the sea

• Household Biology: Study of household animals and insects etc including how to prevent damage to our own body and belongings

• Horticulture: science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, or ornamental plants

• Sericulture: the technique of producing silk by raising silkworms