which came first in the scientific study of living things

The scientific study of living things, or biology, has ancient roots, with early civilizations observing and categorizing plants and animals for practical purposes such as agriculture and medicine. However, the formalization of biology as a distinct scientific discipline began to emerge in the late 17th and early 18th centuries with the work of scientists such as Carl Linnaeus, who developed systems for classifying and naming organisms (taxonomy), and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, who made significant contributions to the field of microscopy and the study of microscopic life forms.

In the modern sense, the scientific study of living things gained momentum during the 19th century with the development of cell theory, evolution theory, and the rise of experimental biology. Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, presented in his book “On the Origin of Species” in 1859, was particularly influential in shaping modern biology and establishing it as a rigorous scientific discipline.