Biology

Living things and their systems.

People in Biology

47 profiles

Naturalist

Charles Darwin

Explaining evolution through natural selection.

Scientist

Jagadish Chandra Bose

Pioneering microwave experiments and measuring electrical responses in plants.

Agricultural scientist

M. S. Swaminathan

Helping transform India’s food production through the Green Revolution.

Botanist

Janaki Ammal

Using plant chromosomes to improve crops and understand their diversity.

Biophysicist

G. N. Ramachandran

Mapping how protein chains can fold and proposing collagen’s triple helix.

Primatologist

Jane Goodall

Revealing that wild chimpanzees make and use tools.

Neuroscientist

Santiago Ramón y Cajal

Establishing that the nervous system is built from individual cells.

Geneticist

Barbara McClintock

Discovering mobile genetic elements, often called jumping genes.

Biologist

Gregor Mendel

Revealing patterns of inheritance through pea-plant experiments.

Microbiologist

Louis Pasteur

Explaining microbial fermentation, developing pasteurisation and advancing vaccination.

Agricultural scientist

George Washington Carver

Helping farmers restore worn-out soil and grow alternatives to cotton.

Biologist

Yoshinori Ohsumi

Revealing how cells dismantle and recycle their own components through autophagy.

Geneticist

Svante Pääbo

Recovering ancient human DNA and revealing our genetic connections with Neanderthals and Denisovans.

Biochemist

Har Gobind Khorana

Helping decipher how the genetic code specifies proteins.

Biologist

Richard Dawkins

Explaining evolution through The Selfish Gene and becoming a prominent advocate of atheism.

Biochemist

Luis Federico Leloir

Discovering how sugar nucleotides help cells build carbohydrates.

Agricultural scientist

Yuan Longping

Helping develop high-yield hybrid rice for large-scale cultivation.

Neuroscientist

Rita Levi-Montalcini

Discovering nerve growth factor, a signal that supports nerve cells.

Biologist

Shinya Yamanaka

Reprogramming adult cells into stem cells.

Neuroscientist

May-Britt Moser

Discovering grid cells that help the brain map space.

Neuroscientist

Edvard Moser

Co-discovering the grid cells used in the brain’s spatial navigation.

Biologist

Flossie Wong-Staal

Cloning HIV and mapping genes central to understanding AIDS.

Biologist

Ernest Everett Just

Showing the importance of the cell surface in fertilisation and development.

Biologist

Charles Henry Turner

Demonstrating learning and flexible behaviour in insects.

Biologist

David A. Sinclair

Researching ageing, sirtuins and epigenetics.

Biologist

Peter Medawar

Establishing acquired immune tolerance in transplantation research.

Botanist

Thomas Andrew Knight

Using experiments and selective breeding to improve fruit crops.

Biochemist

Tim Hunt

Discovering cyclins, proteins that help control cell division.

Biologist

Francis Crick

Co-developing the double-helix model of DNA

Biochemist

Marshall Warren Nirenberg

Helping decipher the genetic code

Biologist

François Jacob

Explaining how genes are switched on and off

Biochemist

Ronald Vale

Discovering kinesin and explaining cellular motor proteins.

Biochemist

Gerty Cori

Explaining how the body stores and uses carbohydrate energy.

Botanist

Robert Brown

Microscopic observations of plant cells and Brownian motion.

Biologist

Charles David Allis

Showing how histone modifications help regulate gene activity.

Biochemist

Rodney Porter

Determining the chemical structure of antibodies.

Physiologist

Edgar Adrian

Recording the electrical signals of individual nerve fibres.

Biochemist

Fritz Albert Lipmann

Discovering coenzyme A and its role in metabolism.

Neuroscientist

Torsten Wiesel

Explaining how the brain processes visual information.

Biologist

John Sulston

Tracing cell development and championing public genome data.

Biophysicist

Hugh Huxley

The sliding-filament explanation of muscle contraction.

Biophysicist

Michael Levitt

Computer models for complex molecules and chemical systems.

Biochemist

Konrad Emil Bloch

Tracing how the body synthesises cholesterol.

Microbiologist

André Michel Lwoff

Research into viruses and their relationship with bacteria.

Biochemist

Hans Krebs

Discovering the citric acid cycle.

Biologist

Martin Evans

Developing embryonic stem-cell methods used in gene targeting.

Biologist

Don Craig Wiley

Revealing structures involved in viral infection and immune recognition.