In 1530, Otto Brunfels (1488-1534, Germanic botanist) compiled 'Herbarium Vivae Eicones': plants he himself found during his botanical studies were represented with woodcuts. Also he wrote on pedagogics, the Arabic language, pharmaceutics & entomology.
In 1869, Friedrich Miescher (1844-1895, Swiss biologist) documented nucleic acids (i.e. the biopolymers essential to all known forms of life) in the nuclei of cells, for the first time. The beginning of human comprehension of DNA.
Beautiful ancient Roman fresco of birds enjoying a fountain...
The Great Stink of 1858 in London occurred when hot weather exacerbated the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent that was present on the banks of The Thames River. Between 1830-1860, c. 40,000 people died from cholera that was associated with river pollution.
Solar systems with multiple stars are quite common, throughout The Milky Way...
The Late Heavy Bombardment is an hypothesized event thought to have occurred c. 4.1 to 3.8 billion years ago: a large number of asteroids collided with the early terrestrial planets in the inner Solar System; including the Earth. This would have affected conditions for life.
Der einsame Baum (1822 - The Solitary Tree), by Caspar David Friedrich
-The topography is very different today and ecologists study such paintings
Humans do influence interior processes of the planet: deforestation, urbanization & shifts in vegetation patterns alter the climate (changes to the reflectivity of the Earth surface) & emissions change the natural water cycle. This reacts with interior pressures & movements...