<P> At some 1.3 million described species, insects account for more than two - thirds of all known organisms, date back some 400 million years, and have many kinds of interactions with humans and other forms of life on earth . </P> <P> Entomology is rooted in nearly all human cultures from prehistoric times, primarily in the context of agriculture (especially biological control and beekeeping), but scientific study began only as recently as the 16th century . </P> <P> William Kirby is widely considered as the father of Entomology . In collaboration with William Spence, he published a definitive entomological encyclopedia, Introduction to Entomology, regarded as the subject's foundational text . He also helped to found the Royal Entomological Society in London in 1833, one of the earliest such societies in the world; earlier antecedents, such as the Aurelian society date back to the 1740s . </P> <P> Entomology developed rapidly in the 19th and 20th centuries, and was studied by large numbers of people, including such notable figures as Charles Darwin, Jean - Henri Fabre, Vladimir Nabokov, Karl von Frisch (winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), and two - time Pulitzer Prize winner E.O. Wilson . </P>

Who is credited as the founder of entomology as a science