Ethology, literally means "character study" (Gk. ethos = character, custom, habitat; logos =Study). It is simply the scientific study of the different types of animal behavior.
Milestones in Ethology
1859 : Charles Darwin published his monumental and epoch:making book "Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection", setting the stage to consider ethology in evolutionary terms. Later, Konard Lorenz, Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch built up ethology on this foundation.
1872 : Darwin published "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals".
1873 : Spalding carried out investigatory studies on imprinting.
1898 : Charles Whitman studied the behaviour of pigeons and doves and published the book "Animal Behaviour",
1898 : Thorndike reported trial and error learning.
1904 : Pavlov demonstrated conditioned reflexes.
1910 : Heinroth studied the behaviour of ducks and gees.
1913:'37 : Kohler made studies on insight learning.
1937 : Konrad Lorenz made studies on instinct.
1950 : Karl von Frisch, Kiramer and Pittendrigh independently presented convincing evidences in support of the internal clocks in animals.
1952 : Niko Tinbergen and his associates detected the social releaser.
1952 : Kramer made serious studies on the navigation and orientation of birds.
1960 : Goodall, for the first time, studied the behaviour of chimpanzees, living with them in the Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanzania.
1963 : Tinbergen published a landmark paper regarding the aims and methods of ethology.
1966 : Reynolds introduced the concept of breeding system.
1970 : Robert Andrey published the much acclaimed book "The Social Contract: A Personal Inquiry Into the Evolutionary Sources of Order and Disorder".
1973 : Tinbergen, Lorenz and Von Frisch jointly won the Nobel Prize.
Konard Lorenz and Nikolaas Tinbergen, Karl von Frisch shared the Nobel prize in physiology and Medicine. They were the first ethologists to receive Nobel Prize and their contributions were cited as discoveries on the organization and elicitation of individual and social behavior patters.
1977 : Emlon and Orien advanced the concept of matting system.
1989 : Clogan made authentic studies on motivation.
1994 : Anderson made detailed studies on sexual selection.
1997 : Bonys made detailed studies on biomimicry.
2001 : Sokolowski masterly reviewed the influence of cloned genes on complex animal behaviour.
2003 : Emmons and Lipton presented a comprehensive description of the role of various gene products in behaviour.
2017 : Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young were awarded Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their discoveries of molecular mechanisms controlling the circadian rhythm.