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Aristotle compiles his book ‘A history of animals’, the first comprehensive study of animals. In this book, he hypothesised the idea of spontaneous generation. In this, he proposed that life arose from non-living material, if it contained pneuma (vital heat). Pneuma can best be compared to blood.

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A Swiss botanist produces a four volume encyclopaedia of the then-known animal world, consisting of over 4500 pages.

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He publishes the tenth edition of his book Systema Naturae, now considering the starting point of binomial nomenclature. Linnaeus is largely credited with developing the universal system of classification that is still in use today (though in different variations)

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Lamarck was a French taxonomist, who proposed different theories to build our understanding of evolution. He believed that all organisms evolve/adapt during a lifetime, and that their newly acquired traits can be inherited/passed on to off spring. He also believed that there would be continuous evolution towards his definition of 'perfection'. These organisms would alter their behaviour in response to changes in their environment, which in turn would modify their organs towards this hypothesised 'perfection'. His theories tend to clash with the Darwinian idea of Evolution by Natural Selection, though they both concur with the idea of disuse inheritance. This theory is that the more you use a part of an organism, the more developed it becomes. Lamarck's Philosophie zoologique of 1829 was when he summarised these two ideas, though his thesis was largely rejected by prominent scientists such as Charles Lyell.

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Charles Lyell - 1830 to 33 (Principles of Geology Vol I to III) 

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Charles Lyell - 1830 to 33 (Principles of Geology Vol I to III) 

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Lyell was a Scottish geologist who explained in his three volumed book, Principles of Geology, that geological process are not a supernatural 'Act of God', but instead down to natural events that are continuously in operation at similar intensities. An example of this would be the formation of Earth's crust via countless small changes occurring for extended periods of time. Lyell would later go on to support Darwin in his theory of natural selection, and become a prominent Naturalist. His book was later credited by Darwin as an inspiration for him.

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English naturalist, Charles Darwin published his book The Origin of Species in which he summarises his research and theories on the idea that species evolve through many generations to gain desirable characteristics (i.e. Survival of the Fittest). In fact, evolution is defined as the change in frequency of a phenotype over several generations. Despite coming from a deeply religious family, Darwin challenge the belief that God created all living things, and instead summarised key points from his observations on the southern American voyage of the HMS Beagle. Darwin found and collected major fossils of extinct mammals; made detailed observations of both plants and animals; and proved the link between seemingly different species of Galapagos Finches. Currently, the main takeaways from Darwin's theory are the following:
1) Individuals show a wide range of variation caused by differences in genes.
2) Individuals with characteristics suited to the environment have a greater chance of survival and more chances to reproduce.
3) New offspring will have the desirable characteristics passed on at a faster rate, than those offspring with undesirable characteristics.
4) Over many generations, the desirable characteristics become more common in the population, which leads the species to evolve.

Darwin's theory was largely accepted amongst the educated public and scientific community as fact, and in the early 20th century, Darwin's theory of evolution and Gregor Mendel's theory of heredity were combined to form the idea of Modern Synthesis (Julian Huxley's 1942 book).

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Alfred Wallace was a British naturalist, who also independently came up with the idea of natural selection that Darwin came up with. 20 years after both Darwin and Wallace came up with their research, they collaborated and published joint papers in 1858. Wallace is best known for his theory on speciation, and rather than using birds for his evidence, used butterflies. He found evolution by natural selection in Malaysian butterflies. His most famous work, The Malay Archipelago, has never been out of print since 1869, and in that book, he details his adventures and observations in Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

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A German biologist and naturalist, proposes the third kingdom of protoctista, in addition to Linnaeus’ animal and plant kingdoms.

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Modern Synthesis - Early/Mid 20th Century (Darwin + Mendel)

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Modern Synthesis - Early/Mid 20th Century (Darwin + Mendel)

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For more information, see the Charles Darwin section

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A five kingdom classification system proposed by him, consisting of prokaryotae, protoctista, fungi, plantae and animalia

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After genetic analysis, Woese introduced the six kingdom classification model, sub-dividing the prokaryotes into archaebacteria and eubacteria.

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As you previously know, classification is the name given to the process by which living organisms are split and sorted into different groups. The organisms within each group share common features.
The most widely used system features 7 taxonomic groups (in hierarchical order), in the order:
Kingdom, - The biggest and covers the most species.
Phylum,
Class,
Order,
Family,
Genus,
Species.

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