History of Marine Biology

The topic of Marine Biology covers a wealth of information, so where do we begin? As the song goes, "let's start at the very beginning. It's a very good place to start."

In ancient times, the study of the seas and the creatures in them were performed by fishermen who needed to know such things to survive. This information passed from father to son or daughter with no written records.

The first mariners who ventured beyond view of land by necessity knew the sea through hands-on experience in ways that we rely on technology to guide us today. Among those first pioneers were the Phoenicians, who were master seafarers and traders in the first millennium BC.

Early Greek philosophers were the first to record biological observations of marine organisms. The Father of Natural History, Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC), was the first to begin studying marine subjects, and he made a number of contributions to both oceanography and marine biology.

Edward Forbes (1815-1854) is considered to be the founder of the science of oceanography and marine biology. He was a British naturalist. Other early contributors to these sciences were actually amateur naturalists who were professionals in other fields. Probably the most famous of the professional naturalists who contributed to marine biology is Charles Darwin (1809-1882). He was a naturalist on the H.M.S. Beagle expeditions (1831-1836).

According to the University of Bologna's website, it was probably the first university in the western world. The university was founded in 1158. Later, in the 16th century, studies of "natural magic" or experimental science were added to the curriculum. They cite a man named Ulisse Aldrovandi as a representative figure of the period who collected and classified animals, fossils and marvels of nature. This is the earliest record I have found of formal study at the university level which would have included foundational areas in Marine Biology.

The Scripps Institution for Biological Research is one of the oldest centers of marine science research, graduate training and public service in the world. It began in 1903 as the "George H. Scripps Memorial Marine Biological Laboratory."

Even as these first things were established so long ago, the field of Marine Biology will continue to score firsts as new discoveries and new territories are studied. It is estimated that only about 5% of the area covered by water on our planet has been explored. Who knows what strange creatures will appear or what plant life will be harvested from the depths and thrill scientists as they place them under scrutiny? As conservation becomes more and more important to the survival of earth, the science of Marine Biology will evolve by necessity to solve the problems of our day the same as it did for those first fishermen of antiquity.