Man has
long sought to understand the nature of the surrounding living beings, as we
can judge from extant rock paintings. The way from the first rock carvings of
animals to the scientific picture of the world was long and arduous. The
history of biology knows the periods of the surge of interest in wildlife, and
times of stagnation in research ideas. The founder of biology as a science
believe the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle (385 – 322 BC). During the
Renaissance (XIV — XVIII) are prepared and get the development of certain
branches of biology: anatomy, physiology, embryology, Zoology, paleontology,
and other Information about extinct animals and plants, the similarities in the
structure of the different groups of living beings have guided scientists to
think about the historical development of the organic world. The first
evolutionary theory began to emerge in the late XVIII — early XIX centuries,
the most coherent and consistent was the theory of J.-B. Lamarck (1744 – 1829).
The first truly scientific theory explaining the diversity of living organisms,
belongs to Charles Darwin (1809 – 1882). At the intersection of Darwinism and
genetics was born the synthetic theory of evolution, continues its development
to this day.
Since
ancient times man tried to explain the reasons for the huge diversity of living
organisms around him. The biological roots of knowledge goes back to antiquity.
Judging by the rock paintings, more than 15 thousand years ago people could
distinguish a lot of animals.