Classifying Life

Scientists divide organisms into categories based on their characteristics. As we learn more about the diversity of life, classification systems change to accommodate the new information. My favorite classification system was proposed by a scientist named Thomas Cavalier-Smith, a professor at the University of Oxford. His system divides all living things into 6 kingdoms.

Bacteria

Protozoa

Chromista

A page from Sir Isaac Newton's journal while he was at Trinity College. Here he draws a diagram classifying all substances, starting with incorporeal (without matter) and corporeal (with matter) substances.