Biology

Biology is arguably the largest and most diverse of the natural sciences. Broadly, it encompasses any specialisms involved in the study of living organisms and their development. This includes everything from evolution to zoology, botany to genetics, and ecology to microbiology; in fact, individual biologists are often involved in more than one of these fields at any given time.

The biology section of this site is the single largest discipline described accounting for a quarter of all the scientists discussed. This could be due to biology being often (incorrectly) described as the soft science. Female scientists are still more likely to be published under the biology umbrella, than any other pre-conceived ‘harder’ or ‘more serious’ sciences such as physics.

The history of science is a rich one where biologists are concerned, after all you only have to look out of your window to see biology in action without the use of any specialised equipment, making biology, from a historical viewpoint, an extremely accessible science.

The Ancient world

Pythias The Elder (c.381 - 326BC) - Ancient Greek Biologist

16th - 17th Century

Marie de Brimeu (c.1550 – 1605) - Finnish Botanist

Sophia Brahe (1556 – 1643) - Danish Horticulturalist

Loredana Marcello (c.1572) - Italian Botanist

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 – 1717) - German Naturalist and Scientific Illustrator

Eleanor Glanville (1654 – 1709) - English Entomologist

18th Century

Martha Daniell Logan (1704 – 1779) - American Botanist

Jane Colden (1724 – 1766) - American Botanist

Elsa Beata Bunge (1734 – 1819) - Swedish Botanist

Jeanne Baret (1740 – 18070 - French Explorer and botanist

Elisabeth Christina von Linné (1743 – 1782) - Swedish Botanist

Marie Le Masson Le Golft (1749 – 1826) - French Naturalist

Marie-Aimée Lullin (1751 – 1822) - Swiss Entomologist

Clelia Durazzo Grimaldi (1760 – 1830) - Italian Botanist

Amelia Griffiths (1768 – 1858) - English Phycologist

Harriet Henrietta Beaufort (1778 – 1865) - British - Irish Botanist

Anna Maria Walker (c.1779 – 1852) - Scottish Botanist

Elizabeth Philpot (1780 - 1857) - English Palaeontologist

Marie-Anne Libert (1782 – 1865) - Belgian Botanist and Mycologist

Mary Anne Whitby (1784 – 1850) - English Silkworm Cultivator

Ellen Hutchins (1785 – 1815) - Irish Botanist

Josephine Kablick (1787 - 1863) - Czech Botanist and Paleontologist

Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps (1793 – 1884) - American Botanist

Frances Acton (1794 – 1881) – English Botanist

Jeanne Villepreux-Power (1794 – 1871) - French Marine Biologist

Mary Buckland (1797 - 1857) - English Palaeontologist

Mary Anning (1799 - 1857) - English Fossil Collector and Palaeontologist

Anna Atkins (1799 – 1871) - English Botanist and Photographer

19th Century

Anna Maria Hussey (1805 – 1853) - English Mycologist and Illustrator

Anne Elizabeth Ball (1808 – 1872) - Irish Botanist and Algologist

Mary Ball (1812 – 1892) - Irish Entomologist

Amalie Dietrich (1821 – 1891) - German Naturalist

Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz (1822 – 1907) - American Naturalist

Morgan Dee Voon (1825 – 1870) – Austro-Hungarian Geneticist

Eleanor Anne Ormerod (1828 – 1901) - English Entomologist

Mary Treat (1830 – 1923) - American Naturalist

Isabella Bird (1831 – 1904) - English Explorer and Naturalist

Harriet Mann Miller (1831 – 1918) - American Ornithologist

Louisa Atkinson (1834 – 1872) - Australian Botanist

Susan Hallowell (1835 – 1911) - American Botanist

Mary Albertson (1838 - 1914) - American Botanist and Astronomer

Alice Cunningham Fletcher (1838 - 1923) - American Ethnologist

Alexandra Smirnoff (1838 - 1913) - Finnish Pomologist

Marian Farquharson (1846 - 1912) - English Naturalist

Mary Murtfeldt (1848 - 1913) - American Entomologist

Cornelia Clapp (1849 - 1934) - American Marine Biologist

Anna Botsford Comstock (1854 - 1930) - American Conservationist

Elizabeth Gifford Peckham (1854 - 1940) - American Arachnologist

Annie Lorrain Smith (1854 - 1937) - English Lichenologist

Clara Eaton Cummings (1855 - 1906) - American Botanist

Elizabeth Gertrude Britton (1858 - 1934) - American Botanist

Grace Frankland (1858 - 1946) - English Microbiologist

Rosa Smith Eigenmann (1858 - 1947) - American Ichthyologist

Margaret Crosfield (1859 – 1952) - English Palaeontologist

Alice Eastwood (1859 - 1953) - Canadian Botanist

Mary J. Rathbun (1860 - 1943) - American Zoologist

Nettie Stevens (1861 - 1912) - American Geneticist

Carrie Derick (1862 - 1941) – Canadian Geneticist

Margaret Fountaine (1862 - 1940) – English Lepidopterist

Ethel Sargant (1863 - 1918) – English Botanist

Anna Wessels Williams (1863 - 1954) - American Microbiologist

Beatrix Potter (1866 - 1943) – English Natural Scientist

Emilie Snethlage (1868 - 1929) - German – Brazilian Ornithologist

Mary Agnes Meara Chase (1869 - 1963) – American Botanist

Helen Dean King (1869 - 1955) – American Biologist

Olga Lepeshinskaya (1871 - 1963) - Russian Biologist

Jantina Tammes (1871 - 1947) - Dutch Botanist and geneticist

Florence R. Sabin (1871 - 1953) – American Medical Scientist

Gertrude Simmons Burlingham (1872 - 1952) - American Mycologist

Nora Lilian Alcock (1874 - 1972) - English Plant Pathologist

Charlotte Cortlandt Ellis (1874 - 1956) - American Botanist

Astrid Cleve (1875 - 1968) – Swedish Botanist, Geologist and Chemist

Emily Arnesen (1876 - 1928) - Norwegian Zoologist

Gabrielle Howard (1876 - 1930) – English Plant Physiologist

Edith Marion Patch (1876 - 1954) – American Entomologist

Theodora Lisle Prankerd (1878 - 1939) – English Botanist

Agnes Arber (1879 - 1960) – English Botanist

Vera Danchakoff (1879 - 1950) – Russian Cell Biologist

Helen Gwynne - Vaughan (1879 - 1967) – English Botanist

Sophia Eckerson (1880 - 1954) – American Botanist and Microchemist

Marie Stopes (1880 – 1958) - British Palaeobotanist

Muriel Wheldale Onslow (1880 - 1932) – English Biochemist

Kono Yasui (1880 - 1971) – Japanese Biologist

Alice Catherine Evans (1881 - 1975) – American Microbiologist

Eleanor Carothers (1882 - 1957) – American Zoologist and Geneticist

Ann Haven Morgan (1882 - 1966) – American Zoolost and Ecologist

Alice Middleton Boring (1883 - 1955) – American Zoologist

Muriel Robertson (1883 - 1973) – Scottish Protozoologist and Bacteriologist

Ethel Browne Harvey (1885 - 1965) – American Embryologist

Marjory Stephenson (1885 - 1948) – English Biochemist

Sara Branham Matthews (1888 - 1962) – American Microbiologist

Winifred Goldring (1888 – 1971) American Palaeontologist

Michiyo Tsujimura (1888 - 1969) – Japanese Biochemist

Annie Meinertzhagen (1889 - 1928) - Scottish) - Ornithologist

Pearl Kendrick (1890 - 1980) – American Bacteriologist

A. Elizabeth Adams (1892 - 1962) – American Zoologist

Ruth Colvin Starrett McGuire (1893 - 1950) – American Botanist

Gerty Cori (1896 - 1957) – American Biochemist

Sheina Marshall (1896 - 1977) – Scottish Marine zoologist

Dorothy M. Needham (1896 - 1987) – English Biochemist

Joan Beauchamp Procter (1897 - 1931) – English Herpetologist

E.K. Janaki Ammal (1897 - 1984) – Indian Botanist

Lucile Quarry Mann (1897 - 1986) – American Zoologist

Gertrud Theiler (1897 - 1986) - South African Parasitologist

Doris Mable Cochran (1898 - 1968) – American Herpetologist

Katherine Esau (1898 - 1997) – German Botanist

Hilde Mangold (1898 - 1924) – German Embryologist

Bea Schwarz (1898 - 1969) – Dutch Phytopathologist

Charlotte Auerbach (1899 - 1994) – German Zoologist and Geneticist

Ann Bishop (1899 - 1990) – English Biologist and parasitologist

Margaret Kennard (1899 - 1975) – American Neurologist

Helen Porter (1899 - 1987) – English Botanist

Mildred Trotter (1899 - 1991) - American Forensic Anthropologist

Janet Vaughan (1899 - 1993) – British Physiologist

20th Century (1900-1919)

Christine Buisman (1900 - 1936) – Dutch Phytopathologist

Honor Fell (1900 - 1986) – English Developer of tissue culture

Isabella Gordon (1901 - 1988) – Scottish Marine biologist

Suzanne LeClercq (1901 - 1994) - Belgian Palaeobotanist

Sidnie Manton (1902 - 1979) – British Entomologist and zoologist

Barbara McClintock (1902 - 1992) – American Cytogeneticist

Grace E. Pickford (1902 - 1986) – American Biologist and endocrinologist

Mary Pickford (1902 - 2002) – British Neuroendocrinologist

Madga Staudinger (1902 - 1997) – Latvian Biologist

Marthe Vogt (1903 - 2003) – German Neuroscientist

Irene Manton (1904 - 1988) – British Botanist

Mary Sears (1905 - 1997) – American Oceanographer

F. Gwendolen Rees (1906 - 1994) – Welsh Zoologist and parasitologist

Rachel Carson (1907 - 1964) – American Marine biologist and conservationist

Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer (1907 - 2004) - South African Palaeontologist

Salome Gluecksohn – Waelsch (1907 - 2007) - German–American Geneticist

Ruth Patrick (1907 - 2013) - American Botanist and Limnologist

Mary Parke (1908 – 1989) – British Marine botanist

Miriam Rothschild (1908 - 2005) – British Natural scientist and entomologist

Isobel Bennet (1909 - 2008) – Australian Marine biologist

Rita Levi-Montalcini (1909 - 2012) – Italian Neurologist

Joy Adamson (1910 - 1980) – Czech Naturalist and author

Gladys Lounsbury Hobby (1910 - 1993) - American Microbiologist

Greta Stevenson (1911 - 1990) - New Zealand Mycologist

Elizabeth S. Russell (1913 - 2001) - American Geneticist

Ruth Turner (1914 - 2000) - American Marine Biologist

Winifred Pennington (1915 - 2007) - British Limnologist

María de los Ángeles Alvariño González (1916 - 2005) - Spanish Oceanographer

Joyce Lambert (1916 - 2005) - English Botanist

Sylvia Agnes Sophia Tait (1917 - 2003) - Siberian Endocrinologist and Biochemist

20th - 21st Century (1920-present)

Leslie Barnett (1920 - 2002) - British Biologist

Frances Meehan Latterell (1920 - 2008) - American Plant Pathologist

Eugenie Clark (1922 - 2015) - American Ichthyologist

Naomi Datta (1922 - 2008) - British Geneticist and bacteriologist

Ester Lederberg (1922 - 2006) - American Microbiologist

Jewel Plummer Cobb (1924 - 2017) - American Cancer researcher

Janet Davidson Rowley (1925 - 2013) - American Geneticist

Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska (1925 - 2015) - Polish Paleobiologist

Mary Lyon (1925 - 2014) - British Geneticist

Vivienne Cassie Cooper (1926 - 2021) - New Zealand Botanist

Marian Diamond (1926 - 2017) - American Neuroscientist

Jannette Anderson (1927 - 2002) - Scottish Biologist

Martha Chase (1927 - 2003) - American Geneticist

Betty Hay (1927 - 2007) - American Developmental biologist

Maria Carmela Lico (1927 - 1985) - Italian – Brazilian Physiologist

Anne McLaren (1927 - 2007) - British Developmental biologist

Dorothea Bennett (1929 - 1990) - American Geneticist

June Almeida (1930 - 2007) - Scottish Virologist,

Nicole Marthe Le Douarin (1930 – ) - French Developmental biologist

Daphne Osborne (1930 - 2006) - British Botanist and plant physiologist

Halszka Osmolska (1930 – 2008) - Polish Palaeontologist

Idelisa Bonnelly (1931 - 2022) - Dominican Marine biologist

Maxine Singer (1931 – ) - American Molecular Biologist

Monique Adolphe (1932 - 2022) - French Cell biologist

Yvonne Barr (1932 - 2016) - Irish Virologist

Dian Fossey (1932 - 1985) - American Primatologist

Patricia Bergquist (1933 - 2009) - New Zealand Zoologist

Tomoko Ohta (1933 -) - Japanese Geneticist

Jane Goodall (1934 – ) - English Primatologist and anthropologist

Patricia Jacobs (1934 – ) - Scottish Geneticist

Sylvia Earle (1935 – ) - American Marine biologist

Noreen Murray (1935 - 2011) - British Molecular geneticist

Rosemary Grant (1936 – ) - British Evolutionary biologist

Alison Jolly (1937 - 2014) - American Primatologist

Teresa Maryańska (1937 - 2019) - Polish Palaeontologist

Grace Oladunni Taylor (1937 - ) – Nigerian Biochemist

Lorna Casselton (1938 - 2014) - British Mycologist

Lynn Margulis (1938 - 2011) - American Biologist

Bridget Ogilvie (1938 – ) - Australian Parasitologist

Mary-Dell Chilton (1939 – ) - American Biologist and botanist

Judith Goslin Hall (1939 – ) - American Clinical Geneticist

Anne Warner (1940 - 2012) - British Biologist

Lucy Shapiro (1940 – ) - American Developmental biologist

Suzanne Cory (1942 – ) - Australian Biologist

Dianne Edwards (1942 – ) - Welsh Palaeobotanist

Ann Kiessling (1942 – ) - American Reproductive biologist

Christiane Nusslein-Volhard (1942 – ) - German Developmental biologist

Anite Roberts (1942 - 2006) - American Biologist

Elisabeth Vrba (1942 - ) - German–American Palaeontologist

Helen M. Berman (1943 – ) - American Structural Biologist

Deborah Charlesworth (1943 - ) – British Evolutionary biologist

Brigid Hogan (1943 - ) - British – American Developmental biologist

Nancy Hopkins (1943 -) - American Molecular Biologist

Gail R. Martin (1944 - ) – American Developmental biologist

Patricia Vickers-Rich (1944 -) - Australian Palaeontologist

Roberta Bondar (1945 - ) – Canadian Neurologist

Marian Dawkins (1945 - ) – British Biologist

Gerta Keller (1945 – ) - Swiss Palaeontologist

Philippa Marrack (1945 - ) – British Biologist and immunologist

Eugenia Maria del Pino Veintimilla (1945 - ) – Ecuadorian Developmental biologist

Cheryll Tickle (1945 - ) – British Developmental biologist

Nancy Wexler (1945 - ) – American Geneticist

Valerie Bera (l1946 - 2022) – Australian Epidemiologist

Birutė Galdikas (1946 - ) - Lithuania – Canadian Primatologist and conservationist

Mary-Claire King (1946 -) - American Geneticist

Daniela Rhodes (1946 - ) – Italian Molecular Biologist

Joan Roughgarden (1946 - ) – American Evolutionary biologist

Fiona Stanley (1946 - ) – Australian Epidemiologist

Shirley Tilghman (1946 - ) – Canadian Molecular Biologist

Veronica van Heyningen (1946 - ) – British Geneticist

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi (1947 -) - French Virologist

Linda B. Buck (1947 -) - American Biologist

Jenny Clack (1947 – 2020) - English Palaeontologist

Janet Darbyshire (1947 - ) – British Epidemiologist

Temple Grandin (1947 - ) – American Zoologist

Jane Lubchenco (1947 -) - American Environmental scientist

Polly Matzinger (1947 - ) – French Immunologist

Barbara A. Schaal (1947 - ) - German – American Evolutionary biologist

Elizabeth Blackburn (1948 - ) - American – Australian Molecular Biologist

Pascale Cossart (1948 - ) – French Bacteriologist

Barbara Pearse (1948 - ) – British Biologist

Sue Hendrickson (1949 – ) - American Palaeontologist

Susan Lindquist (1949 - 2016) – American Molecular Biologist

Barbara J. Meyer (1949 -) - American Geneticist

Jean Beggs (1950 -) - British Geneticist

Elaine Fuchs (1950 - ) – American Cell biologist

Linda Partridge (1950 - ) – British Geneticist

Janet Rossant (1950 - ) – British Biologist

Kay Davies (1951 - ) – British Geneticist

Susan Greenfield (1951 - ) – British Neurologist

Susan Hockfield (1951 - ) – American Neurobiologist

Frances Ashcoft (1952 - ) – British Geneticist

Anita Harding (1952 - 1995) - Irish – British Neuroscientist

Mariann Bienz (1953 - ) – Swiss Molecular Biologist

Georgina Mace (1953 - 2020) – British Conservational biologist

Florence Wambugu (1953 - ) – Kenyan Plant Pathologist

Christine Holt (1954 - ) – British Developmental neuroscientist

Anne O'Garra (1954 - ) – British Immunologist

Colleen M. Fitzpatrick (1955 -) - American Forensic Scientist

Claire M. Fraser (1955 - ) – American Microbiologist

Katalin Karikó (1955 - ) - Hungarian – American Biochemist

Cynthia Jane Kenyon (1955 - ) – American Molecular Biologist

Gillian Bates (1956 – ) – British Biologist

Rosa Beddington (1956 - 2001) – British Developmental biologist

Fiona Watt (1956 – ) – British Biologist

Janet Hemingway (1957 – ) – British Vector biologist

Doreen Cantrell (1957 – ) – Scottish Immunologist

Susana López Charretón (1957 – ) – Mexican Virologist

Hannah Monyer (1957 – ) – German Neurobiologist

Elizabeth Robertson (1957 – ) – British Developmental biologist

Lynn Rothschild (1957 – ) – American Evolutionary biologist

Maria Spillantini (1957 –) – Italian Molecular neurologist

Gloria Galeano Garcés (1958 - 2016) - Colombian Botanist

Tiiu Kull (1958 - ) - Estonian Botanist

Andrea Brand (1959 – ) – American Molecular Biologist

Mercedes Doretti (1959 - ) - Argentinian Forensic Anthropologist

Gitte Moos Knudsen (1959 – ) – Danish Neurobiologist

Linda Avey (1960 – ) – American Biologist

Beth Levine (1960 - 2020) – American Microbiologist

Peggy Whitson (1960 – ) – American Biochemist and astronaut

Elizabeth Simpson (fl.1960s) – British Immunologist

Sue Black (1961 - ) - Scottish Forensic Anthropologist

Cecilia Bouzat (1961 – ) – Argentinian Neuroscientist

Carol W. Greider (1961 – ) – American Molecular Biologist

Sarah Gilbert (1962 – ) – British Vaccinologist

Safaa Kumari (1962 – ) – Syrian Plant virologist

May-Britt Moser (1963 –) – Norwegian Neuroscientist

Fiona Powrie (1963 – ) – British Immunologist

Jennifer Doudna (1964 – ) – American Biochemist, developer of CRISPR

Edith Heard (1965 - ) – British – French Geneticist

Antje Boetius (1967 -) - German Marine Biologist

Emmanuelle Charpentier (1968 – ) – French Geneticist, Developer of CRISPR

Maria Fadiman (1969 – ) – American Ethnobotanist

Olanike Adeyemo (1970 – ) – Nigerian Veterinarian

Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka (1970 – ) – Ugandan Veterinarian and conservationist

Nicole King (1970 – ) – American Biologist

Eleanor Maguir e (1970 – ) – Irish Neuroscientist

Patricia Simpson (fl.1970s) – British Developmental biologist

Lubna Hamid Tawfiq Tahtamouni (1976 – ) – Jordanian Developmental biologist

Beth Shapiro (1976 – ) – American Evolutionary biologist

Jessica Meir (1977 -) – American Marine biologist and astronaut

Asha de Vos (1979 - ) – Sri Lankan Marine Biologist

Amanda Gay Fisher (fl. 1980s) – British Cell biologist

Niloufar Bayani (1986 – ) – Iranian Conservational biologist

Margaret A. Stanley (fl. 1990sBritish Virologist

Anastasia Volkova (1991 – ) – Ukrainian Agricultural Scientist

Yasmin Ahmed Almubarak Altwaijri (fl. 2000s) – Saudi Epidemiologist

Jane Rigby (fl. 2000s) - American Palaeontologist

Mary Higby Schweitzer (fl. 2000s) - American Palaeontologist

Karen P. Steel (fl. 2000s) – British Biologist

Boghuma Kabisen Titanji (fl. 2000s) – Cameroonian Virologist

Mary Voyet (fl. 2000s) - American Astrobiologist