For History and the Rise of Modern Biology

现代生物学起源于许多方面，包括医学、农业、畜牧业和“自然历史”。 科学史学家已经研究过自然历史学是如何影响英国现代生物学的兴起的，特别是关于查尔斯达尔文和进化论。 但是，正如美国并不代表当今世界正在进行的所有进步科学一样，英国当然也不代表对现代生物学兴起的所有主要贡献。 事实上，现代生物学兴起的最重要传统之一来自德国动物自然史。 尼哈特博士正在研究的正是这个问题。 通过分析历史，社会组织和自然历史机构的知识贡献，主要是在大学领域之外，Nyhart博士试图提供围绕自然历史活动的第一个综合图片。 这些活动从流行的一端（动物园的烟花）一直延伸到最深奥的科学研究（海绵的系统学和解剖学）。 她这样做有两个目的：第一，拓宽我们对德国自然历史和生物学文化的理解;第二，确定对动物地理学和“生物学”兴趣高涨的根源。这种对研究活体动物与其生存条件的关系的兴趣成为动物行为学、生态学和进化研究的新研究方向的基础。 Nyhart博士正在使用柏林以及德国其他地方的档案资源。 她正在研究大学论文，政府档案，博物馆，动物园，水族馆，独立的自然历史学会，甚至私人公司的材料。 她的研究有望扩展我们对几个生物学领域起源的理解，超越我们目前面临的狭隘的英美焦点。

Modern biology arose from a number of sources including medicine, agriculture, animal husbandry, and `natural history.` Historians of science have already examined how natural history affected the rise of modern biology in England, especially with respect to Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution. But, just as the United States does not represent all of progressive science that is currently being undertaken in the world today, England certainly did not represent all of the major contributions to the rise of modern biology. Indeed, one of the most significant traditions in the rise of modern biology came from German natural history of animals. It is this subject that Dr. Nyhart is examining. By analyzing the history, social organization, and intellectual contributions of institutions of natural history that lay largely outside the university realm, Dr. Nyhart seeks to provide the first integrated picture of activities surrounding natural history. These activities extend across a spectrum from the popular end (fireworks at the zoo) all the way to the most esoteric scientific studies (the systematics and anatomy of sponges). In doing so, she has two aims: first to broaden our sense of the culture of German natural history and biology and second to identify the sources of the great upsurge in interest in animal geography and `biology.` This interest in the study of the living animal in relation to its conditions of existence became the basis for new research streams in animal behavior, ecology, and evolutionary studies. Dr. Nyhart is using archival sources in Berlin as well as all over the rest of Germany. She is examining university papers, government archives, and materials in museums, zoos, aquariums, independent natural history societies and even private firms. Her study promises to extend our understanding of the origins of several biological fields beyond the narrow Anglo-American focus that we currently confront.