The Great Naturalists tells the story of the development of ideas about natural history as seen through the lives, observations and discoveries of nearly forty great naturalists, from Classical times to the end of the 19th century. From such giants as Aristotle, Linnaeus and Darwin to less lauded but nonetheless important figures as Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, Nicolas Steno and Mary Anning, all the people here contributed massively to our knowledge of the natural world, enabling us to understand and appreciate it today.
- Unity in Diversity
The Classical World
- Aristotle
- Theophrastus
- Pedianos Dioscorides
- Pliny the Elder
The Renaissance
- Otto Brunfels
- Leonhart Fuchs
- Ulisse Aldrovandi
- Andrea Cisalpino
- Pierre Belon
- Konrad Gessner
The Enlightenment
- Nicolaus Steno
- John Ray
- Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
- Robert Hooke
- Hans Sloane
- Mark Catesby
- Carl Linnaeus
- George-Louis Buffon
- Georg Steller
- Michel Adanson
- Erasmus Darwin
- William Bartram
- Joseph Banks
- Johann Fabricus
- James Hutton
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
- Antoine Jussieu
- George Cuvier
- William Smith
19th Century
- Alexander von Humboldt
- John James Audubon
- William Buckland
- Charles Lyell
- Mary Anning
- Richard Owen
- Jean-Louis Agassiz
- Charles Darwin
- Alfred Russel Wallace
- Asa Gray
Robert Huxley is Head of Collections, Department of Botany, The Natural History Museum, London.