生物学史是人类从古至今对生命研究的过程。虽然生物学的概念作为单一领域出现于19世纪，但生物学从传统医学起就已经出现，并可以根据自然史追溯到古埃及医学及希腊罗马时代亚里士多德和盖伦的工作。中世纪时，穆斯林医生及学者贾希兹（al-Jahiz）、阿维森纳、伊本·苏尔（Ibn Zuhr或Avenzoar）、伊本·贝塔尔（Ibn al-Baitar）及伊本·纳菲斯（Ibn al-Nafis）进一步发展。欧洲文艺复兴及近代时期，生物学思想被新的经验主义思想彻底变革并发现了一些新的生物。这次活动中比较突出的是对生理机能进行了实验和认真观察的安德雷亚斯·维萨里和威廉·哈维以及开始对生物进行分类和化石记录的博物学家卡尔·林奈和蒲丰，同时还对有机体的发展和行为进行研究，显微镜展示了之前从未看到的世界并为细胞学说打下基础。自然神学的重要性不断增长，在一定程度上回应了机械论学说的兴起，鼓励了博物学的发展（虽然它也巩固了目的论的证明）。

The history of biology traces the study of the living world from ancient to modern times. Although the concept of biology as a single coherent field arose in the 19th century, the biological sciences emerged from traditions of medicine and natural history reaching back to ayurveda, ancient Egyptian medicine and the works of Aristotle and Galen in the ancient Greco-Roman world. This ancient work was further developed in the Middle Ages by Muslim physicians and scholars such as Avicenna. During the European Renaissance and early modern period, biological thought was revolutionized in Europe by a renewed interest in empiricism and the discovery of many novel organisms. Prominent in this movement were Vesalius and Harvey, who used experimentation and careful observation in physiology, and naturalists such as Linnaeus and Buffon who began to classify the diversity of life and the fossil record, as well as the development and behavior of organisms. Microscopy revealed the previously unknown world of microorganisms, laying the groundwork for cell theory. The growing importance of natural theology, partly a response to the rise of mechanical philosophy, encouraged the growth of natural history (although it entrenched the argument from design).