Talk:List of biologists

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It seems there has been some confusion about which lists to use, and indeed there is a separate list of botanists while list of zoologists redirects here. Since before the 20th century, so many were not specialists, it would seem to argue for a single list, on the other hand it doesn't hurt to have people listed on multiple lists. I don't have a strong feeling either way, but it ought to be decided so that editors know where to link bios in. Stan 17:05, 11 May 2004 (UTC)

I'm looking for...

Figured since I've got a bunch of red links in some of my taxoboxes, I'd start a wish list so that we can work on finding these folks together. To find out which articles have these links, you can click on the red edit link, then on "what links here" from the empty edit page.

• Alperin
• Anthony (primatologist)
• Ayres (biologist), published in 1985
• Coupin
• Deville (biologist) = Émile Deville (As in: Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, I. and E. Deville. 1848. Note sur un huit espècies nouvelles de singes américaine, faitent parties des collections de M. de Castelnau et Émile Deville. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires des Séances de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris, série D 27:497–499.)
• Dollman
• Fernández
• P. v. Fioroni =? Pio Fioroni
• W. Granger
• M. H. S. Harrison = Harrison (biologist)?
• Hensel (biologist) = Reinhold Hensel (Reinhold Friedrich Hensel)
• Jourdan
• Kastschenko = Nikolai Feofanovich Kashchenko See ru:Кащенко, Николай Феофанович
• Katugin - O. N. Katugin
• Khajuria = H. Khajuria
• Kock (biologist) - Dieter Kock see http://species.wikimedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Kock
• von Lorenz-Liburnau
• M W Lyon Jr. - American mammalologist
• Robert Martin
• B. H. McConnaughey
• Medway (biologist) = Baron Medway, now Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 5th Earl of Cranbrook National Library of Australia's online catalogue entry for Mammals of Borneo : field keys and an annotated checklist / by Lord Medway
• Mikan
• Miranda Ribeiro = Alipio de Miranda Ribeiro 1874-1939
• Montagu - George Montagu - Common Bottlenose Dolphin, 1821... I don't think George Montagu is the right guy.... he was dead at the time...
• Müller (biologist) - there are 4, none fit the authority for this one.
• Nadler (biologist) = T. Nadler
• K. N. Nesis = Kir Nazimovich Nesis
• Neumann = Neumann (biologist)
• I. V. Nikitina
• Sergey Ivanovich Ognev
• T. Okutani = Takashi Okutani
• Palacios
• Petter-Rousseaux and Petter
• G. E. Pickford
• Poche
• V. Prosch
• Rabor
• Rasoloarison = Rodin Rasoloarison
• Reid
• Rochebrune - Rochebrune = Alphonse Trémeau de Rochebrune author of Faune de la Sénégambie and Vertebratorum novorum vel minus cognitorum orae Africae occidentalis incolarum : diagnoses
• C. F. E. Roper
• Y. Rumpler = Yves Rumpler (see fr:Yves Rumpler)
• W. B. Saunders = W. Bruce Saunders External link http://www.brynmawr.edu/geology/faculty/wbsaunders/
• Schwartz (biologist)
• Elwyn Simons
• Standing (biologist)
• E. Stolley
• Stroganov (biologist) = Sergei Ulyanovich Stroganov (Сергей Ульянович Строганов) Siberian Zoological Museum page
• I. Taki = Iwao Taki
• Turov (taxonomy) = Sergei Sergeyevich Turov (Сергей Сергеевич Туров)
• M. Vecchione = Michael Vecchione
• J. B. Vérany = Jean Baptiste Vérany 1800-1865
• Voigt = Friedrich Sigmund Voigt 1781-1850 ?
• Wakefield (biologist)
• P. D. Ward External link http://www.brynmawr.edu/geology/WBSaunders/Publications.html
• Wolf =? Johann Wolf (1765-1824)
• R. E. Young = Richard E. Young

Wow... It's been ages since I last looked at this list, and I see that very little has been done to fix this. I can remove one, maybe two from the list, but I have to add one... - UtherSRG (talk) 07:14, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

T. Okutani has a ja.wp article - see ja:奥谷喬司--Shirt58 (talk) 🦘 08:42, 13 November 2023 (UTC)

No Specifics

Please include some specifics as to what these guys did. Most of them just have biologist written in front of them. You need to click on their names to find out what they did, whether they were ornithologists or marine biologists or palaentologists.

Shreshth91 21:00 29 Jun

I agree with the sentiment, although a quick scan shows that many of them have a description that is a bit more specific than biologist. I would argue, however, that even something slightly more specific such botanist or ornithologist is not enough. There are some examples such as "Max Delbrück, (1906–1981), German physicist and biologist known for work on the replication mechanism of viruses.". This example would seem to be a better style for each entry. David D. 29 June 2005 15:55 (UTC)

What exactly are we listing?

I'm going to add in everyone at Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine that isn't already on this list. However, there are a number of Nobel laureates who might not be biologists. Should we include in this list, for example, a physicist who helped invent the MRI? Or a physician who developed a vaccine? I'm inclined the list the physician but not the physicist, even though MRIs have had a huge impact on biological research. I guess the fundamental question is, are we listing famous biologists or people who made important contributions to biology? GabrielF 20:21, 30 October 2005 (UTC)

In my opinion, this list should contain famous biologists, especially people who have named new taxa. JoJan 10:00, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Okay, I am going to include those individuals who are identified as biologists on their articles or who have contributed to biology (e.g. Robert Bárány, a physician who worked on the vestibular system and Alexis Carrel, a "surgeon and biologist" who pioneered sutures and organ transplants). I am not going to include inventors whose creations are useful to biology (e.g. the inventors of the EEG or the MRI) and I'm not going to include physicians who contributed only to medicine (e.g. Julius Wagner-Jauregg who developed treatment for malaria). Please look through my additions to see if any of them are objectionable. GabrielF 02:03, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Stats

In case anyone is interested, there are currently 714 names on this list (by my reckoning anyway) representing every letter of the alphabet and there are hundreds more molecular biologists, biochemists, neuroscientists, evolutionary biologists, etc. to go. GabrielF 05:47, 28 December 2005 (UTC)

Should we add...

I'm going to use this as a running list of people who may or may not be good candidates for inclusion in this list. Hopefully people who know more than I do can share there opinions on whether they should be classified as biologists. GabrielF 06:02, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

• Manfred Sakel
  • No, he's a neuroscientist. I'm a proponent of restricting the list of biologists as much as possible to people who have contributed much to the field of biology, particularly biologists who have named new species. JoJan 13:03, 8 January 2006 (UTC)
• Julius Wagner-Jauregg
  • No - for reasons the same as above JoJan 13:03, 8 January 2006 (UTC)

• • • Jo-Jo, you are using a different criterion for "biologist" than most biologists would use. I am a molecular biologist and I think myself as much a biologist as any taxonomist. If you mean List of botanists and zoologists, there are two separate lists already, and you could add additional categories. But the list you want would be called, I think: List of taxonomists--and there is a purpose to that, because the names are needed for the species names--even a molecular biologist knows that much (smile).

I think Gabriel has it right. I leave it for discussion exactly what you want to call the new page, but what you have been intending seems not to have been what was intended in putting most of the names here. We need another taxonomic level. There is already List of botanists by author abbreviation and List of Zoologists by author abbreviation, which come very close to what you have in mind, because such abbreviations are not used elsewhere. But is it the case that every name so used has an abbreviation? DGG 04:11, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

When I started contributing to this list in May 2004, this list was still very short and could accommodate everyone who had contributed to the field of biology, even writers from the antiquity (such as Pliny the Elder, alchemists (such as Paracelsus) or naturalists (such as John Ray and Charles Darwin). Since that time, this list has been growing continuously, reaching now a considerable 58 kB, and there are still many biographies missing. Therefore I'm a proponent of new sublists, such as List of molecular biologists (I'm sure that there are many that deserve a fitting biography in Wikipedia) with a hyperlink to be added to the top of this list of biologists. JoJan 14:56, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

"Kowalesky" per letter of Thomas Huxley

Can anybody track down / make any necessary redirects / start article if necessary for "Kowalesky" per letter of Thomas Huxley - "Kowalesky could never have announced his great discovery of the affinity of the Ascidians and Vertebrates, by which zoologists had been startled." -- May be AKA "Kowalski", but I can't find a likely reference. -- (Hmm, Kazimierz Kowalski? - in which case we need an article.) -- Writtenonsand 11:32, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Red links

1. Victor Westhoff. Done. Viriditas (talk) 10:23, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

424 footnotes

At present there are 424 footnotes, most giving abbreviations in botany and zoology, and many of them added by me. Once I have finished making sure that the information is in the Infoboxes of the people concerned I plan to remove most of the footnotes (but probably not those for pairs of people with the same or similar names). However, I won't do this if there is significant and convincing opposition. Athel cb (talk) 08:12, 8 April 2022 (UTC)

No response yet, but I'm not ready to implement it. Athel cb (talk) 17:05, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

Makes sense to me. Be bold! SchreiberBike | ⌨  21:48, 10 May 2022 (UTC)

It's not lack of boldness, but lack of readiness! There are still a great many individual articles to check. I'm still on the letter B, as I got distracted a month or so ago. Anyway, thanks for the encouragement. Athel cb (talk) 07:45, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

Suggestions

Hi fellow editors, greetings! May I do some suggestions of additions for the List of Biologists article?

1- Leonid Krushinsky, a notable russian biologist and ethologist who made significant contributions to the experimental study of animal behavior and neurobiology at Moscow State University. He made important studies on evolutionary and genetic aspects of animal behavior, studying species ranging from laboratory rodents to wolves, foxes, and dogs. Also one of the main figures on the Krushinsky-Molodkina (KM) Rat Strain (in the 1950s, Krushinsky and his student Ludmila Molodkina developed a unique strain of rats susceptible to audiogenic seizures (seizures triggered by loud sounds). This strain has served as a vital experimental model for studying epilepsy and developing anticonvulsant drugs).

2- Aleksandr Formozov, notable soviet biologist, ecologist, zoologist, biogeographer, and environmentalist. He conducted extensive research into the ecology and biogeography of the steppe and desert regions of the Soviet Union, as well as made a foundational work on snow cover as an ecological factor, specifically how snow layers impact the behavior, survival, and distribution of mammals and birds. He also introduced various precise terms for snow-drift phenomena and habitats.

3- Richard Goldschmidt, notable german-american geneticist and evolutionary biologist. He was among the first to bridge the gap between genetics and embryology, coining the term "physiological genetics." He studied how genes control the rates of developmental processes (rates of chemical reactions during growth), and discovered how genetic balance determines sex, laying foundational concepts for the genetic control of sex determination and intersexuality.

4- Roman Isaevich Zlotin, a highly notable soviet-russian and american biogeographer, zoologist, and ecologist. He had a distinguished career spanning decades of field research across diverse global ecosystems, later bridging Soviet ecology with academia in the United States. Zlotin specialized in long-term, field-based ecological studies across an impressive range of biomes, including arctic tundras, boreal forests, steppes, arid deserts, and high-mountain alpine ecosystems. His foundational 1970 dissertation on the structure and productivity of high-altitude ecosystems in the Tien-Shan mountains became a benchmark for alpine ecology.

5- Solomon Levit, a notable soviet physician and human geneticist who played a foundational role in establishing medical genetics as an academic discipline. He established and directed the Maxim Gorky Medico-Biological Research Institute in Moscow (later renamed the Research Institute of Medical Genetics), the world's first institute dedicated specifically to medical genetics and human heredity.

6- Georgii Karpechenko, a brilliant and world-renowned soviet plant cytogeneticist whose groundbreaking work on plant hybridization left a permanent mark on evolutionary biology and genetics. He pioneered the first time a new, fertile species-like plant form was intentionally created through polyploid speciation via experimental crossbreeding and worked on the developing theoretical frameworks for how plant breeders could bypass genetic incompatibility to combine traits from separate species.

7- Izrail Agol, a notable soviet geneticist who conducted early, influential experiments on radiation-induced mutagenesis (using X-rays to induce mutations in Drosophila fruit flies) and spent time at the University of Texas in the laboratory of Hermann Joseph Muller (who would later win the Nobel Prize for his work on X-ray mutagenesis).

8- Hermann Joseph Muller, an american geneticist who was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for the discovery of the production of mutations by means of X-ray irradiation".

9- Michael Abercrombie, a towering figure in British biology, widely regarded as one of the primary pioneers of modern cell biology and experimental embryology.

10- Nikolai Koltsov, a towering figure in Russian science and one of the most visionary pioneers of modern experimental biology, genetics, and cell biology, who discovered the cytoskeleton.

11- Piotr Ivanov, a highly notable soviet embryologist and professor who made foundational contributions to evolutionary developmental biology and invertebrate morphology. Ivanov's most significant theoretical contribution was his concept of heteronomous metamery (developed across the late 1920s and outlined comprehensively in his 1937 book Guide to General and Comparative Embryology). He distinguished between two distinct types of segments in segmented animals (like annelids and arthropods): larval somites (formed early from mesodermal bands) and post-larval somites (formed later from a growth zone). This framework greatly influenced evolutionary discussions on body segmentation and metamery.

12- Georges Teissier, a notable french mathematical biologist, zoologist and geneticist who contributed to the modern synthesis with quantitative methods. Working alongside Philippe L'Héritier in the 1930s, Teissier invented the population cage (or demometer). This device allowed researchers to maintain large, multi-generational populations of Drosophila fruit flies under controlled conditions, enabling the experimental study of natural selection, gene frequencies, and polymorphism in real time. In 1936, Teissier collaborated with british biologist Julian Huxley to co-coin the term allometry (the study of the relative scaling of body parts shape versus size during growth). Teissier contributed heavily to the mathematical and biometric modeling of animal growth curves using log-transformed data.

13- Tesha Zohidov, a prominent soviet-uzbek zoologist, ecologist, and state scientific leader. He played a foundational role in developing ecological and zoological sciences in Central Asia and specialized in the vertebrate fauna of Central Asian deserts, particularly the Kyzylkum and Karakum deserts. His field research mapped out how desert vertebrates adapt to extreme environments, laying the groundwork for the zoogeographical zoning of the region's arid ecosystems.

14- Boris Mikhailovich Zhitkov, a highly notable russian and soviet zoologist, biogeographer, explorer, and the foundational figure of Soviet game management (ohotovedeniye) and wildlife conservation science. He established and directed specialized academic institutions, including the biological station at Losino-Ostrovsky (near Moscow) in 1922. This station served as an incubator that trained an entire generation of prominent soviet ecologists, zoologists, and biogeographers (such as Aleksandr Formozov, Sergei Naumov, and Vladimir Geptner). He established and directed specialized academic institutions, including the biological station at Losino-Ostrovsky (near Moscow) in 1922. This station served as an incubator that trained an entire generation of prominent Soviet ecologists, zoologists, and biogeographers (such as Aleksandr Formozov, Sergei Naumov, and Vladimir Geptner). He also advocated for wildlife conservation. Following his scientific expeditions to the Volga Delta in 1912, where he documented the destructive over-harvesting of birds and eggs, he campaigned vigorously for systemic protection. His efforts directly contributed to the creation of the Astrakhan Nature Reserve in 1919, one of the first state nature reserves in Soviet Russia.

15- Alexander Serebrovsky, a towering, highly influential pioneer of soviet genetics, quantitative biology, and animal breeding. Working alongside mentors like Nikolai Koltsov, he helped establish genetics as a formal discipline in the early Soviet Union. He originally coined the Russian term genofond (gene pool), conceptualizing the aggregate of all genes present in a reproducing population—a foundational pillar of modern population genetics. He also pioneered "gene geography," mapping how specific genes are distributed across different domestic animal populations (particularly regional chicken breeds). He also advanced the theory of "step-alleles" (pseudo-alleles) to understand fine-scale gene structure and organization on chromosomes.

16- Pavel Serebrovsky, a highly notable russian and soviet ornithologist, zoogeographer, and paleontologist. Serebrovsky was a leading authority on the classification, geographical distribution, and evolutionary history of Palearctic birds. He wrote foundational taxonomical manuals and conducted extensive faunistic research across various regions of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. In addition to working with modern birds, he made significant contributions to paleontology, notably analyzing prehistoric bird fossil fragments from major excavation sites like the famous Binagadi asphalt deposits in Azerbaijan.

17- Mykola Szczerbak, a highly notable soviet-ukrainian zoologist, ecologist, and one of the world's leading authorities on amphibians and reptiles (herpetology). He published definitive, widely cited monographs on complex reptile groups, such as racerunners (the genus Eremias) and the gecko fauna of the USSR and adjacent regions. Several reptile species have been named in his honor (such as Darevskia szczerbaki and Alsophylax szczerbaki). Szczerbak established a prominent scientific school dedicated to the study, systematics, and zoogeography of reptiles and amphibians, particularly in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

18- Yaroslav Starobogatov, a brilliant and exceptionally prolific soviet-russian zoologist, malacologist, and carcinologist. He is widely remembered within the scientific community as a towering encyclopedic intellect who made staggering contributions to invertebrate taxonomy and macroevolution. Starobogatov specialized primarily in mollusks (both freshwater and marine) and crustaceans. He described well over a thousand new animal taxa (including hundreds of species, genera, and higher-level families), making him arguably the most prolific taxonomic describer in the history of russian malacology. Beyond individual species, he worked extensively on high-level systematics (megasystematics) across living organisms, proposing bold frameworks for phylogenetic relationships, evolutionary trees, and micro- and macroevolutionary processes. He conducted extensive field research across the former Soviet Union—from Lake Baikal and the Arctic to Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Ukraine (including post-accident studies around Chernobyl). His 1970 landmark monograph, Fauna of Mollusks and Zoogeographic Zonation of Inland Water Bodies of the World, remains a cornerstone of aquatic biogeography.

19- Ekaterina Andreeva, a notable soviet-uzbek arachnologist who made foundational contributions to the study of Central Asian spiders. Spiders of Tajikistan (1976): She authored this landmark monograph, which stands as the first and primary comprehensive taxonomic book dedicated to the spider fauna of Central Asia, serving as an essential reference for regional biodiversity and taxonomic revisions. Her extensive collection has facilitated ongoing research, and at least eight spider and harvestman taxa, alongside the spider genus Katya, have been named in her honor.

20- Nina Mikhailovna Chernovna, a prominent soviet and russian soil zoologist, ecologist, and entomologist. Chernova was a leading figure in the scientific school of renowned soil zoologist Merkury Gilyarov. Her research focused heavily on soil invertebrates—particularly Collembola (springtails) and oribatid mites—exploring their roles in decomposition, soil formation, and ecological succession. In recognition of her foundational work on springtails, several species of microarthropods (such as Ghirkanura chernovae and Supraphorura chernovae) have been named in her honor.

21- Amina Davletshina, a prominent soviet and uzbek entomologist and a foundational figure in the study of Central Asian aphids (aphidology) and agricultural pest control. Davletshina spent half a century (1944–1994) at the Institute of Zoology and Parasitology of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR. Her 1964 landmark monograph, Aphids of the Genus Aphis L. of the Fauna of Uzbekistan, served as the definitive taxonomic guide for the region. She also described several new aphid species to science. Beyond pure taxonomy, her research focused heavily on practical agricultural applications, studying desert insect faunas, termites, and biological methods to protect crops. She authored major works on beneficial insects and entomophages (predators and parasitoids) used to combat pests threatening Central Asia's vital cotton crops.

22- Vitalia Viktorovna Reshetnyak, a prominent soviet protozoologist and marine biologist who established herself as a leading global authority on marine microplankton, specifically Radiolaria.

Reshetnyak focused her life's work on complex, single-celled marine plankton—most notably Radiolaria, Phaeodorea, and Acantharia. Her research examined their taxonomy, morphology, and global oceanic distribution. She authored or co-authored over 50 scientific publications, including definitive volumes in the prestigious Fauna of the USSR series. Her comprehensive 1981 monograph, Acantharia of the World's Oceans, and her 1966 work on deep-sea Phaeodaria of the Northwest Pacific became foundational reference texts. Throughout her career, she described more than 20 new species for science and established a new family of Phaeodorea (Polypyramidae).

23- Vasily Ruzhentsev, a prominent soviet paleontologist, geologist, and malacologist who became a leading global authority on the evolution and taxonomy of Paleozoic cephalopods, particularly ammonites. Ruzhentsev specialized in the biostratigraphy and evolution of Late Paleozoic (Carboniferous and Permian) ammonoids. His meticulous work on their complex suture lines and ontogenetic development established crucial frameworks for correlating marine strata across Eurasia and North America.

24- Inessa Khristianovna Sharova, a prominent soviet and russian entomologist, ecologist, and a leading authority on the morphology, ecology, and systematics of ground beetles (Carabidae). Working closely under the mentorship of Academician Merkury Gilarov (the founder of Soviet soil zoology), Sharova became a central pillar of his scientific school. Her early research focused on soil-dwelling insect larvae, culminating in her foundational 1958 monograph on ground beetle larvae that are useful or harmful to agriculture. Her magnum opus was her 1974 Doctor of Science thesis and subsequent 1981 monograph, Life Forms of Ground Beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae). In it, she established a comprehensive ecological and morphological classification system for both adult beetles and their larvae, a framework that heavily influenced evolutionary and ecological entomology internationally.

25- Osamu Shimomura, a japanese organic chemist and marine biologist whose groundbreaking discovery of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) revolutionized biological imaging and won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008. In 1962, while working at Friday Harbor Laboratories in Washington state, Shimomura extracted and purified the luminescent protein aequorin from the bioluminescent jellyfish Aequorea victoria. During this process, he isolated a secondary protein that glowed bright green under ultraviolet light—which he named Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). Matthew2940 (talk) 19:51, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

@Athel cb Matthew2940 (talk) 19:52, 23 September 2026 (UTC)

Thanks for your suggestions. Some of these are very clearly notable and should have been listed long ago. I have added Goldschmidt, Muller (amazing that he wasn't there already), Abercrombie, and Theissier. As for the others, you are free to add them if you wish, but I don't have enough knowledge of them to do it myself. Athel cb (talk) 10:28, 24 September 2026 (UTC)