Robert Hooke (1635–1703) Scientist He studied at Oxford University, where he became an assistant in the laborator y of the chemist Robert Boyle. In 1662 he became a director of the Royal Society. His experiments covered many fields, including physics, medicine, astronomy and biology. Based on his microscopic obser vations, in his work Micrographia he detailed the structures of various insects, fossils and plants. In one of his microscopic obser vations, Hooke was studying the porous structure of cork. He discovered that it was made up of polyhedral cavities, which he called “cells”. This term describes the basic unit of all living things. Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723) Biologist Although he had no scientific training, he is considered the father of microbiology. He was a curious Dutch fabric seller. He developed his own microscope from lenses he used to examine fabrics. He mounted biconvex lenses on metal plates that were held very close to the eye. He observed objects that he placed on the head of a pin. He perfected the lenses and polished them. He made lenses of up to 500x magnification and looked at everything in his reach. On one occasion while obser ving water from a puddle, he discovered protozoa and bacteria , which he called animalcules. James Hutton (1726–1797) Geologist He is considered the father of geology. He explained how the processes of sedimentation , volcanism and erosion were involved in the formation of the Earth’s surface. He introduced the concept of metamorphism by suggesting that some sedimentar y rocks were buried and experienced transformations. He also established the basis of plutonism, which considered all rocks to be the result of volcanic processes. He claimed that the centre of the Earth was made up of igneous matter originating from the fusion of rocks. He also considered the Earth to be much older than previously thought. All these ideas were explained in his work Theory of the Earth (1788). Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) Naturalist, botanist and zoologist In the 18th centur y, he established the basis of today ’s taxonomy and nomenclature in his work Systema Naturae. In it he described and named more than 9 000 species of plants and animals. He proposed a new system of classification in which he grouped species into genera , genera into families, families into classes, classes into phyla and phyla into kingdoms. He unified the nomenclature of living things, creating the scientific or binomial nomenclature. In this system, two Latin words are used to name a species. The first indicates the genus and the second refers to the species. The first names he established are still used today. The science project Great scientists Throughout histor y, many people have stood out because of their scientific careers, as they helped to advance knowledge in biology, geology and environmental sciences. 14
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