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The earliest known system of classifying forms of life comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle, who classified animals based on their means of transportation (air, land, or water).
In 1172 Ibn Rushd (Averroes) who was a judge (Qaadi) in Seville translated and abridged Aristotle's book "de Anima" (Animals). This book was translated into Latin by Mitchell the Scott.
The next major advance in developing scientific classification was by the Swiss professor, Conrad Gessner (1516 - 1565). Gessner's work was a critical compilation of life known at the time.
The exploration of parts of the New World next brought to hand descriptions and specimens of many novel forms of animal life. In the latter part of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th careful study of animals commenced, which, directed first to familiar kinds, was gradually extended until it formed a sufficient body of knowledge to serve as an anatomical basis for classification. Advances in using this knowledge to classify living beings bears a debt to the research of medical anatomists, such as Fabricius (1537 - 1619), Petrus Severinus (1580 - 1656), William HarveyWilliam Harvey ( April 1, 1578 June 3, 1657) was a medical doctor who first correctly described in exact detail the circulatory system of blood being pumped around the body by the heart. This developed the ideas of Rene Descartes who in his Description of (1578 - 1657), and Tyson (1649 - 1708). Advances in classification due to the work of entomologists and the first microscopists is due to the research of people like Marcello MalpighiMarcello Malpighi ( March 10, 1628 November 29, 1694) was an Italian doctor, who gave his name to several physiological features. He was born in Crevalcore, Italy, raised on the farm of his parents, and entered the University of Bologna at the age of 17. (1628 - 1694), Jan SwammerdamJan Swammerdam ( February 12, 1637 February 17, 1680) was a Dutch scientist. He was among the first scientists to use the newly invented microscope. Swammerdam was born in Amsterdam, the son of an apothecary and naturalist. He was destined for the Church; (1637 - 1680), and Robert HookeRobert Hooke ( July 18, 1635 March 3, 1703) was one of the greatest experimental scientists of the seventeenth century, and hence one of the key figures in the scientific revolution. Born in Freshwater, on the Isle of Wight, Hooke received his early educa (1635 - 1702).
John RayJohn Ray ( November 29, 1627 January 17, 1705) was an English naturalist, sometimes called the father of English natural history. Until 1670 he wrote his name as John Wray. He published important works on plants, animals, and natural theology. His classif (1627 - 1705) was an English naturalist who published important works on plants, animals, and natural theology. His classification of plants in his Historia PlantarumHistoria Plantarum ( Latin for History of Plants is the name by which is known an atlas of botany written by Theophrastus between the third and the second century BC. This work was organised in ten books, and is an encyclopedia of the plant kingdom, in wh was an important step towards modern taxonomy. Ray rejected the system of dichotomous division by which species were classified according to a pre-conceived, either/or type system, and instead classified plants according to similarities and differences that emerged from observation.