This is a list of notable biologists with a biography in Wikipedia. It includes zoologists, botanists, biochemists, ornithologists, entomologists, malacologists, and other specialities.
A Ab–Ag John Jacob Abel (1857–1938), American biochemist and pharmacologist, founder of the first department of pharmacology in the United States. John Abelson (born 1938), American biologist with expertise in biophysics, biochemistry, and genetics Michael Abercrombie FRS (1912–1979), British cell biologist and embryologist Richard J. Ablin (born 1940), American immunologist. Research on prostate cancer. Discovered prostate-specific antigen (PSA) which led to the development of the PSA test Erik Acharius (1757–1819), Swedish botanistAbbreviation in botany: Ach. who studied lichens Gary Ackers (1939–2011), American biophysicist who worked on thermodynamics of macromolecules. Gilbert Smithson Adair (1896–1979), British protein chemist who identified cooperative binding of oxygen binding haemoglobin. Arthur Adams (1820–1878), English physician and naturalistAbbreviation in zoology: A. Adams who classified crustaceans and molluscs Michel Adanson (1727–1806), French naturalistAbbreviation in botany: Adans. who studied the plants and animals of Senegal Julius Adler (1930–2024), American biochemist and geneticist known for work on chemotaxis. Monique Adolphe (1932–2022), French cell biologist, pioneer of cell culture Edgar Douglas Adrian (1st Baron Adrian) (1889–1977), British electrophysiologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1932) for research on neurons Adam Afzelius (1750–1837), Swedish botanistAbbreviation in botany: Afzel. who collected botanical specimens later acquired by Uppsala University Carl Adolph Agardh (1785–1859), Swedish botanistAbbreviation in botany: C. Agardh who classified plant orders and classes Jacob Georg Agardh (1813–1901), Swedish botanistAbbreviation in botany: J.Agardh known for classification of algae Louis Agassiz (1807–1873), Swiss zoologistAbbreviations in zoology: Agassiz, Ag., L. Ag., Agass. who studied the classification of fish; opponent of natural selection Alexander Agassiz (1835–1910), American zoologist,Abbreviations in zoology: A. Agassiz, A. Ag. son of Louis Agassiz, expert of marine biology and on mining Nikolaus Ager (also Nicolas Ager, Agerius) (1568–1634), French botanist, author of De Anima Vegetativa
Ai–An Nagima Aitkhozhina (1946–2020), Kazakh molecular biologist, structural and functional organisation of the genome of higher organisms and the molecular mechanisms of regulation of its expression. William Aiton (1731–1793), Scottish botanist,Abbreviation in botany: Aiton director of the botanical garden at Kew Igor Akimushkin (1929–1993), Soviet zoologist Bruce Alberts (born 1938), American biochemist, former President of the United States National Academy of Sciences, known for studying the protein complexes involved in chromosome replication, and for the book Molecular Biology of the Cell Robert Alberty (1921–2014), American physical biochemist, with many contributions to enzyme kinetics Edmond Albius (c. 1829–1880) Réunionais horticulturalist, born in slavery, who introduced hand pollination of vanilla Alfred William Alcock (1859–1933), British systematist of numerous species, aspects of biology and physiology of fishes Nora Lilian Alcock (1874–1972), British pioneer in plant pathologyAbbreviation in botany: N.L.Alcock who did research on fungal diseases Boyd Alexander (1873–1910), English ornithologist who made surveys of birds in the Gold Coast (now Ghana), and the Bonin Islands Richard D. Alexander (1929–2018), American evolutionary biologist whose scientific pursuits integrated systematics, ecology, evolution, natural history and behaviour Salim Ali (1896–1987), Indian ornithologist who conducted systematic bird surveys across India Frédéric-Louis Allamand (1736–1809), Swiss botanistAbbreviation in botany: F.Allam. who described several plant genera Warder Clyde Allee (1885–1955), American zoologist and ecologist, identified the Allee effect (correlation between population density and individual fitness) Joel Asaph Allen (1838–1921), American zoologistAbbreviations in zoology: Allen, J.A. Allen who studied birds and mammals, known for Allen's rule Jorge Allende (born 1934), Chilean biochemist known for contributions to the understanding of protein biosynthesis George James Allman (1812–1898), British naturalist who did important work on the gymnoblasts June Dalziel Almeida (1930–2007), Scottish virologist who pioneered techniques for characterizing viruses, and discovered Coronavirus Tikvah Alper (1909–1995), South African radiobiologist who showed that the infectious agent of scrapie contains no nucleic acid Prospero Alpini (1553–1617), Italian botanist,Abbreviation in botany: Alpino the first in Europe to describe coffee and banana plants Sidney Altman (1939–2022), Canadian-born molecular biologist, winner of the 1989 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on RNA Pyotr Anokhin (1898–1974), Soviet biologist and physiologist, known for his theory of functional systems and the concept of systemogenesis
Am–As Bruce Ames (1928–2024), American biochemist, inventor of the Ames test for mutagenicity (sometimes regarded as a test for carcinogenicity) John E. Amoore (1939–1998), British biochemist and zoologist, originator of the stereochemical theory of olfaction. José Alberto de Oliveira Anchieta (1832–1897), Portuguese naturalist who identified many new species of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles Mortimer Louis Anson (1901–1968), American biochemist and protein chemist who proposed that protein folding was reversible Jakob Johan Adolf Appellöf (1857–1921), Swedish marine zoologistAbbreviation in zoology: Appellöf who made important contributions to knowledge of cephalopods Agnes Robertson Arber (1879–1960), British plant morphologistAbbreviation in botany: A.Arber and anatomist, historian of botany and philosopher of biology Aristotle (384 BC–322 BC), Greek philosopher, sometimes regarded as the first biologist, he described hundreds of kinds of animals Emily Arnesen (1867–1928), Norwegian zoologist who worked on sponges Frances Arnold (born 1956), American biochemist and biochemical engineer, pioneer of the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes. Ruth Arnon (born 1933), Israeli biochemist, who works on anti-cancer and influenza vaccinations. She participated in developing the multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone. Peter Artedi (1705–1735), Swedish naturalistAbbreviations in zoology: Artedi, Arctaedius, Art. who developed the science of ichthyology Gilbert Ashwell (1916–2014), American biochemist, pioneer in the study of cell receptor Ana Aslan (1897–1988), Romanian biologist who studied arthritis and other aspects of aging Boris Astaurov (1904–1974), Soviet biologist and geneticist who worked on breeding experiments including pioneering work on silkworms William Astbury (1898–1961), British physicist, molecular biologist and X-ray crystallographer
At–Az David Attenborough (born 1926), British natural history broadcaster Jean Baptiste Audebert (1759–1800), French naturalist.Abbreviations in zoology: Audebert, Audeb. Primarily an artist, he illustrated books of natural history, including Histoire naturelle des singes, des makis [lemurs] et des galéopithèques Jean Victoire Audouin (1797–1841), French zoologist: entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist and malacologist John James Audubon (1786–1851), French and American ornithologistAbbreviations in zoology: Audubon, Audub. and illustrator, who identified 25 new species Charlotte Auerbach (1899–1994), German and British geneticist, founded the discipline of mutagenesis after discovering the effect of mustard gas on fruit flies Caroline Austin (20th–21st century), British molecular biologist known for her work on human DNA topoisomerase enzymes Richard Axel (born 1946), American Nobel Prize–winning physiologist who discovered how to insert foreign DNA into a host cell Julius Axelrod (1912–2004), American biochemist, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on catecholamine neurotransmitters Francisco Ayala (1934–2023), Spanish-American evolutionary biologist and philosopher William Orville Ayres (1817–1887), American physician and ichthyologist with publications in popular sources Félix de Azara (1746–1811), Spanish naturalistAbbreviation in zoology: Azara, Az. who described more than 350 South American birds
B
Ba Charles Cardale Babington (1808–1895), British botanist and archaeologist Churchill Babington (1821–1889), British classical scholar, archaeologist and botanist John Bachman (1790–1874), American ornithologist;Abbreviation in zoology: Bachman also one of the first scientists to argue that blacks and whites are the same species Curt Backeberg (1894–1966), German horticulturist,Abbreviation in botany: Backeb. known for classification of cacti Karl Ernst von Baer (1792–1876), German naturalist (in Estonia), biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and a founding father of embryology Liberty Hyde Bailey (1858–1954), American botanist,Abbreviation in botany: L.H.Bailey one of the first to recognize the importance of Gregor Mendel's work Donna Baird (thesis 1980), American epidemiologist and evolutionary-population biologist, concerned with women's health Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823–1887), American naturalist, ornithologist,Abbreviation in zoology: Baird ichthyologist and herpetologist who collected and classified many species Scott Baker (born 1954), American marine biologist, cetacean expert John Hutton Balfour (1808–1884), Scottish botanist,Abbreviation in botany: Balf. author of numerous books, including Manual of Botany Clinton Ballou (1923–2021), American biochemist who worked on the metabolism of carbohydrates and the structures of microbial cell walls Henri Heim de Balsac (1899–1979), French zoologist known for work on ethology David Baltimore (1938–2025), American biologist, known for work on viruses. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1975 Outram Bangs (1863–1932), American zoologistAbbreviation in zoology: Bangs who collected many bird species; author of more than 70 books and articles, 55 of them on mammals Joseph Banks (1743–1820), English naturalist, botanistAbbreviation in botany: Banks who collected 30,000 plant specimens and discovered 1,400. Robert Bárány (1876–1936), Austro-Hungarian (later Swedish) physician. Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1914) for studies of the vestibular system Horace Barker (1907–2000), American biochemist and microbiologist Ben Barres (1954–2017), American neurobiologist who studied mammalian glial cells of the central nervous system Aleksandr Bartenev (1882–1946), Russian and Soviet zoologist, professor, Doctor of Biological Sciences, and Rector of Rostov University in 1920–1921 Ewa Bartnik (born 1949), Polish biologist and university professor Benjamin Smith Barton (1766–1815), American botanist,Abbreviation in botany: Barton author of Elements of botany, or Outlines of the natural history of vegetables, the first American textbook of botany John Bartram (1699–1777), American botanist,Abbreviation in botany: Bartram described by Carl Linnaeus as the "greatest natural botanist in the world" William Bartram (1739–1823), American botanist,Abbreviation in botany: W.Bartram ornithologist, natural historian, and explorer, author of Bartram's Travels (as now known) Anton de Bary (1831–1888), German surgeon, botanist, microbiologist, and mycologist, considered a founding father of plant pathology (phytopathology) as well as the founder of modern mycology Dorothea Bate (1878–1951), Welsh palaeontologist and pioneer of archaeozoology who studied fossils Henry Walter Bates (1825–1892), English naturalist who gave the first scientific account of mimicry Patrick Bateson (1938–2017), English biologist and science writer, president of the Zoological Society of London