Historical Perspective of Protists

Historical Perspective

Many scientists played a key role in the elevation of Kingdom Protista. The role of various scientists is given below.

John Hogg

In 1861, John Hogg proposed the kingdom Protoctista for microscopic organisms.

Ernst Haeckel

In 1866, Ernst Haeckel suggested creating the kingdom Protista to include bacteria and other microorganisms such as Euglena that did not fit into plant or animal kingdom. He however, separated blue green algae and bacteria (Prokaryotes) from nucleated protists and placed them in a separate group he called Monera within the Kingdom Protista.

Herbert Copeland

In 1938, Herbert Copeland elevated the prokaryotes to kingdom status thus separating them from protists.

Robert Whittaker

In five kingdom system of Robert Whittaker (1969) only unicellular eukaryotes were placed in kingdom Protista. But now a day this kingdom also includes colonial and simple multicellular eukaryotes as well.

Margulis and Schwartz

Margulis and Schwartz (1988) modified the five kingdom system. Protista or Protoctista is one of the five kingdoms.