Tree of Life Biographies
The Tree of Life Project encourages its visitors to learn about biodiversity and phylogeny, thus furthering a greater appreciation of the beauty and significance of the creatures around us. Our current understanding of organismal diversity has been compiled by thousands of scientists, spending their lives studying the characteristics and relationships of animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms. Those scientists are a pretty diverse, colorful bunch of creatures themselves, and they are just as worthy of having their beauty and significance appreciated. This is why the Tree of Life Project is launching a new Tree of Life Biographies section, illustrating the many different backgrounds and motivations that can inspire a passion for the exploration of life's forms and features.
ToL biographies will tell the stories of biologists at any stage in their career, from child prodigies, through graduate students, to professors and curators; and of course, we will also feature the great biologist of the past. We will publish autobiographies as well as biographies written by others, and we will have biographies that are original ToL contributions as well as biographies made available by other projects.
ToL biography pages will be linked to the ToL branch and leaf pages of the organisms that have served as the major source of inspiration for the person profiled. Once we get the first ToL biographies online, this page will feature a biographies search tool, so you can look for people's biographies based on a number of different criteria, including a person's favorite organisms, their gender, current career stage, and national or cultural heritage.
Want biographies right now? Here are some other project that feature biologists' biographies:
- Biographies of Biologists. BIOSIS Resource Guide. Compilation of biographies on the internet.
- Biography Sites. Internet sites for learning about the lives and work of mathematicians and scientists. Eisenhower National Clearinghouse for Mathematics and Science Education (ENC).
- Bright Sparcs. A register of people involved in the development of science, technology, engineering and medicine in Australia, including references to their archival materials and bibliographic resources. Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre.
- The Faces of Science: African Americans in the Sciences. Mitchell C. Brown, Princeton University.
- People and Discoveries. A databank of biographies of scientists and descriptions of key events and discoveries. Companion website to the WGBH television program.
- Real Science! Careers that begin with imagination. Companion website to the KTEH, San Jose Public Television program.
- SACNAS Biography Project. Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.
- San Jose State University Virtual Museum. The History of Mathematics, Science, and Technology: A Culturally Affirming View. Robertta H. Barba, San Jose State University.
- science.ca. Canada's greatest scientists and their achievements.
- Strange Science: Biographies. History of paleontology and biology. Michon Scott.
- Women in Science. A selection of 16 significant contributions. San Diego Supercomputer Center.
- Women in Science. ThinkQuest site built by high school students.
- 4,000 Years of Women in Science. University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.