From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Natural history
is the
study
of
plants
and
animals
in the wild, and the
environments
they live in. This includes the
geology
of the places in which they live.
The work of naturalists is
observation
,
interpretation
,
collecting
and
classification
, rather than
experiments
. People who study natural history are called
naturalists
. They were among the first to explore the world. They were the first to study the
Amazon
and other
tropical
places. Naturalists find new
species
and
classify
plants and animals. They study
ecology
.
Naturalists developed some
theoretical
ideas which were valuable. They noticed that living things fitted the lives they led. This was
adaptation
. They noticed a
struggle for existence
between animals. They thought they could see a
chain of being
from lower animals to higher, which they thought was the work of God. The idea that such things might happen by natural means began to surface in the 18th century, and become the majority view in time of
Charles Darwin
.
Before Darwin, most naturalists did not think of themselves as scientists. When they looked at nature, perhaps as explorers, they looked at everything. They looked at the land, the people, the plants and animals. After Darwin, they did see themselves as scientists. Early on, Darwin called himself a
geologist
.
Thomas Henry Huxley
was an
anatomist
.
Joseph Dalton Hooker
was a
botanist
.
Charles Lyell
was a
geologist
. They changed the way in which they were educated as well. They often took
degrees
in science. That sort of education was rare before Darwin.
Naturalists were
educated
amateurs
; scientists are
trained
professionals
. The change happened slowly, during the 19th century.
[1]
The very word
scientist
was invented in 1837 by
William Whewell
. Before then, the term was
natural philosopher
(for the physical sciences) or
natural historian
(for the biological sciences and geology).
Naturalist
is short for
natural historian
.
Some of the people who are important because they were interested in natural history are:
- ↑
Barber, Lynn 1980.
The heyday of natural history 1820?1870
. Cape, London.