Editing Natural history (section)

===Medieval===
Natural history was basically static through the [[Middle Ages]] in Europe—although in the [[Arabic]] and [[Oriental]] world, it proceeded at a much brisker pace. From the 13th century, the work of Aristotle was adapted rather rigidly into [[Christian philosophy]], particularly by [[Thomas Aquinas]], forming the basis for [[natural theology]]. During the Renaissance, scholars (herbalists and humanists, particularly) returned to direct observation of plants and animals for natural history, and many began to accumulate large collections of exotic specimens and unusual [[monster]]s. [[Leonhart Fuchs]] was one of the three founding fathers of botany, along with [[Otto Brunfels]] and [[Hieronymus Bock]]. Other important contributors to the field were [[Valerius Cordus]], [[Konrad Gesner]] ({{Lang|la|[[Historiae animalium (Gesner)|Historiae animalium]]}}), [[Frederik Ruysch]], and [[Gaspard Bauhin]].<ref name="natural">"[http://www.historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/index.php?category=Natural+History Natural History Timeline] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101231172609/http://www.historyofscience.com/G2I/timeline/index.php?category=Natural+History |date=2010-12-31 }}". HistoryofScience.com.</ref> The rapid increase in the number of known organisms prompted many attempts at classifying and organizing species into [[taxonomy (biology)|taxonomic groups]], culminating in the system of the Swedish naturalist [[Carl Linnaeus]].<ref name="natural"/>

The British historian of Chinese science [[Joseph Needham]] calls [[Li Shizhen]] "the 'uncrowned king' of Chinese naturalists",<ref>Needham, J., & Ling, W. (1976). ''Science and civilization in China'' (Vol. 5, part.3, p. 216). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press</ref> and his ''[[Bencao gangmu]]'' "undoubtedly the greatest scientific achievement of the Ming".{{quote without source|date=October 2021}} His works translated to many languages direct or influence many scholars and researchers.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}