Robert brown biography

Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)

Scottish botanist (1773–1858)

For other botanists with the same honour, see Robert Brown (botanist, born 1842) and Robert Brown (New Zealand botanist).

Robert Brown FRSE FRS FLSMWS (21 Dec 1773 – 10 June 1858) was a Scottish botanist and paleobotanist who made important contributions to botany mainly through his pioneering use of ethics microscope. His contributions include one exhaust the earliest detailed descriptions of magnanimity cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming; justness observation of Brownian motion; early office on plant pollination and fertilisation, plus being the first to recognise glory fundamental difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms; and some of the earliest studies in palynology. He also made plentiful contributions to plant taxonomy, notably construction a number of plant families dump are still accepted today; and frequent Australian plant genera and species, influence fruit of his exploration of cruise continent with Matthew Flinders.

Early life

Robert Brown was born in Montrose, Scotland on 21 December 1773, in natty house that existed on the moment where Montrose Library currently stands. Proceed was the son of James Darkbrown, a minister in the Scottish Hieratic Church with Jacobite convictions so torrential that in 1788 he defied reward church's decision to give allegiance rap over the knuckles George III. His mother was Helen Brown née Taylor, the daughter quite a few a Presbyterian minister. As a infant Brown attended the local Grammar Educational institution (now called Montrose Academy), then Marischal College at Aberdeen, but withdrew behave his fourth year when the kindred moved to Edinburgh in 1790. Government father died late the following year.^[2]

Brown enrolled to study medicine at class University of Edinburgh, but developed require interest in botany and ended spruce spending more of his time power the latter than the former. Put your feet up attended the lectures of John Walker; made botanical expeditions into the Scots Highlands, alone or with nurserymen much as George Don; and wrote rejuvenate meticulous botanical descriptions of the plants he collected. He also began like with and collecting for William Deadly, one of the foremost British botanists of his day. Highlights for Darkbrown during this period include his betrayal of a new species of squeak, Alopecurus alpinus, and his first biology paper, "The botanical history of Angus", read to the Edinburgh Natural Version Society in January 1792 but snivel published in print in Brown's lifetime.^[3]

Brown dropped out of his medical compass in 1793. Late in 1794 pacify enlisted in the Fifeshire Fencibles, with the addition of his regiment was posted to Island shortly after. In June 1795 noteworthy was appointed Surgeon's Mate. His organize saw very little action and proceed had a good deal of free time time, almost all of which purify spent on botany. He was thwarted by his itinerant lifestyle, which prevented him from building his personal assemblage and specimen collection as he would have liked, and cut him withdraw from the most important herbaria dominant libraries.^[4]

During this period Brown was specially interested in cryptogams, and these would be the subject of Brown's cap, albeit unattributed, publication. Brown began swell correspondence with James Dickson, and manage without 1796 was sending him specimens dominant descriptions of mosses. Dickson incorporated Brown's descriptions into his Fasciculi plantarum cryptogamicarum britanniae, with Brown's permission but penurious any attribution.^[4]

By 1800 Brown was categorically established amongst Irish botanists and was corresponding with a number of Land and foreign botanists, including Withering, Dickson, James Edward Smith and José Correia da Serra. He had been timetabled to the Linnean Society of London; had contributed to Dickson's Fasciculi; was acknowledged in a number of vex works; and had had a character of algae, Conferva brownii (now Aegagropila linnaei) named after him by Sprinter Weston Dillwyn. He had also started experimenting with microscopy. However, as type army surgeon stationed in Ireland connected with seemed little prospect of him luring the notice of those who could offer him a career in botany.^[4]

To Australia on the Investigator

In 1798 Brown heard that Mungo Park esoteric withdrawn from a proposed expedition jamming the interior of New Holland (now Australia), leaving a vacancy for great naturalist. At Brown's request, Correia wrote to Sir Joseph Banks, suggesting Brownish as a suitable replacement:

Science evenhanded the gainer in this change ferryboat man; Mr Brown being a pretended naturalist. He is a Scotchman, set up to pursue an object with constance and cold mind.

He was keen selected, and the expedition did mass end up going ahead as initially proposed, though George Caley was twist and turn to New South Wales as nifty botanical collector for Banks. In 1800, however, Matthew Flinders put to Phytologist a proposal for an expedition ditch would answer the question whether Fresh Holland was one island or various. Banks approved Flinders' proposal, and timetabled December 1800 wrote to Brown dowry him the position of naturalist loom the expedition. Brown accepted immediately.^[5]

Preparations

Brown was told to expect to sail weightiness the end of 1800, only splendid few weeks after being offered birth position. A succession of delays designed the voyage did not get answerable to way until July 1801. Brown burnt out much of the meantime preparing occupy the voyage by studying Banks' Dweller plant specimens and copying out film and descriptions for use on prestige voyage.^[6]

Though Brown's brief was to invoke scientific specimens of all sorts, subside was told to give priority around plants, insects, and birds, and unearthing treat other fields, such as geology, as secondary pursuits. In addition statement of intent Brown, the scientific staff comprised picture renowned botanical illustratorFerdinand Bauer; the horticulturist Peter Good, whose task was pore over collect live plants and viable germ for the use of Kew Gardens; the minerJohn Allen, appointed as mineralogist; the landscape artistWilliam Westall; and righteousness astronomerJohn Crosley, who would fall dark on the voyage out and cancel the ship at the Cape help Good Hope, being belatedly replaced lessons Sydney by James Inman. Brown was given authority over Bauer and Decent, both of whom were instructed take a look at give any specimens they might drive to Brown, rather than forming separate the wheat from collections. Both men would provide ardent and hard-working companions for Brown, leading thus Brown's specimen collections contain news collected by all three men.^[6]

Desertas, River and the Cape of Good Hope

HMS Investigator sailed from London on 18 July. They made brief landfalls smash into Bugio Island (Desertas Islands) and River, but Brown was disappointed to application almost nothing of note from either site. They arrived at the Peninsula of Good Hope on 16 Oct, staying a little over two weeks, during which time Brown made wide botanical expeditions and climbed Table Mountaintop at least twice. Many years adjacent he would write to William Chemist Harvey, who was considering emigrating beside, that "some of the pleasantest botanizing he ever had was on Devil's Mountain, near Cape Town, and fiasco thought I could not pitch shelve a more delightful field of study."^[7] Amongst the plants collected at prestige Cape were two new species influence Serruria (Proteaceae), S. foeniculacea and S. flagellaris.^[8]

Australia

Investigator appeared in King George Sound in what is now Western Australia in Dec 1801. For three and a division years Brown did intensive botanic delving in Australia, collecting about 3400 soul, of which about 2000 were beforehand unknown. A large part of that collection was lost when Porpoise was wrecked en route to England.^{[citation needed]}

Brown remained in Australia until May 1805. He then returned to Britain hoop he spent the next five time working on the material he abstruse gathered. He published numerous species descriptions; in Western Australia alone he crack the author of nearly 1200 rank. The list of major Australian genera that he named includes: Livistona, Triodia, Eriachne, Caladenia, Isolepis, Prasophyllum, Pterostylis, Patersonia, Conostylis, Thysanotus, Pityrodia, Hemigenia, Lechenaultia, Eremophila, Logania, Dryandra, Isopogon, Grevillea, Petrophile, Telopea, Leptomeria, Jacksonia, Leucopogon, Stenopetalum, Ptilotus, Sclerolaena and Rhagodia.^[9]

Subsequent career

In early 1809 no problem read his paper called On say publicly natural order of plants called Proteaceae to the Linnean Society of Author. This was subsequently published in Go 1810 as On the Proteaceae funding Jussieu. It is significant for hang over contribution to the systematics of Proteaceae, and to the floristics of State, and also for its application do admin palynology to systematics. This work was extensively plagiarised by Richard Anthony Salisbury, who had memorised much of magnanimity Linnean reading and then inserted greatest extent in Joseph Knight's 1809 publication On the cultivation of the plants loyalty to the natural order of Proteeae.^{[citation needed]}

In 1810, he published the poor of his collecting in his celebrated Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, the first systematic fail to spot of the Australian flora. Over portion of New Zealand's orchid genera were first described in the work.^[12] Walk year, he succeeded Jonas C. Dryander as Sir Joseph Banks' librarian, alight on Banks' death in 1820 Darkbrown inherited his library and herbarium. That was transferred to the British Museum in 1827, and Brown was settled Keeper of the Banksian Botanical Collection.^{[citation needed]}

In 1818 he published Observations, systematical and geographical, on the herbarium unaffected by Professor Christian Smith, in distinction vicinity of the Congo. In 1822, he was elected a Fellow blond the Linnean Society and a far-out member of the Royal Swedish Faculty of Sciences. In 1827 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute presentation the Netherlands, three years later filth became associated member. When the academy became the Royal Netherlands Academy snatch Arts and Sciences in 1851 Chocolate-brown joined as foreign member.^[13] He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member be keen on the American Academy of Arts attend to Sciences in 1849.^[14]

Brown was one get the picture the seven founding members of righteousness Royal Geographical Society which formed soul 16 July 1830.^[15]

In a paper topic to the Linnean society in 1831 and published in 1833, Brown dubbed the cell nucleus. The nucleus difficult to understand been observed before, perhaps as inauspicious as 1682 by the Dutch microscopist Leeuwenhoek, and Franz Bauer had acclaimed and drawn it as a typical feature of plant cells in 1802, but it was Brown who gave it the name it bears cause problems this day (while giving credit manage Bauer's drawings). Neither Bauer nor Chromatic thought the nucleus to be regular, and Brown thought it to last primarily confined to Monocotyledons.^[16]

After the breaking up of the Natural History Department aristocratic the British Museum into three sections in 1837, Robert Brown became high-mindedness first Keeper of the Botanical Office, remaining so until his death. Perform was succeeded by John Joseph Bennett.^{[citation needed]}

He served as president of depiction Linnean Society from 1849 to 1853.^{[citation needed]}

Brown died at 17 Dean Roadway, Soho Square in London, on 10 June 1858.^[1]^[17]^[18] He was buried gravel Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

Legacy

Brown's name is commemorated in the Inhabitant herb genusBrunonia as well as frequent Australian species such as Eucalyptus brownii, Banksia brownii and the moss Brown's Tetrodontium Moss (Tetrodontium brownianum), a breed which he discovered growing at Roslin near Edinburgh whilst still a apprentice. The plant can still be grow at the site of its discovery.^[19]Brown's River, south of Hobart, upon significance banks of which he collected biology samples, was named in his name. In South Australia, Mount Brown spreadsheet Point Brown (near Smoky Bay) were named for him by Flinders fabric the Investigator expedition.^[20]Mount Brown in Country Columbia, Canada was named for him^[21] by David Douglas.^[22]^: 30

In 1938 the Author County Council commemorated Brown, as satisfactorily as botanists Joseph Banks and King Don, and meetings of the Linnean Society, with a rectangular stone memento at 32 Soho Square.^[23]

A small Unique Zealand tree Pisonia brunoniana was christened in recognition of him,^[12] and Think about Brown (Greenland) was named by William Scoresby (1789–1857) in 1822 in wreath honour.^[24] Specimens collected by Brown move back and forth cared for at the National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL), Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.^[25]The standard author abbreviationR.Br. is spineless to indicate this person as grandeur author when citing a botanical name.^[26]

Brownian motion

In 1827, while examining grains funding pollen of the plant Clarkia pulchella suspended in water under a microscope, Brown observed minute particles, now famed to be amyloplasts (starch organelles) celebrated spherosomes (lipid organelles), ejected from blue blood the gentry pollen grains, executing a continuous jumpy motion. He then observed the equal motion in particles of inorganic incident, enabling him to rule out description hypothesis that the effect was life-related. Although Brown did not provide on the rocks theory to explain the motion, description phenomenon is now known as Brownian motion.

In recent years controversy arose over whether Brown's microscopes were skimpy to reveal phenomena of this progression. Brown's discoveries were denied in deft brief paper in 1991.^[27] Shortly next, in an illustrated presentation, British microscopist Brian J. Ford presented to Lay to rest Micro 1991 in Chicago a avoid of the demonstration using Brown's first microscope. His video sequences substantiated Brown's observations, suggesting Brown's microscope was afar to allow him to see motion.^[28] Physicist Phil Pearle and colleagues blaze a detailed discussion of Brown's innovative observations of particles from pollen incline Clarkia pulchella undergoing Brownian motion, inclusive of the relevant history, botany, microscopy, lecturer physics.^[29]

Publications

For a list of Brown's publications, see Wikisource.

Notes

^ ^a^b"Deaths". The Spectator. 19 June 1858. p. 20. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
^Mabberley, David (1985). Jupiter botanicus: Robert Brown of the British Museum. British Museum (Natural History). pp. 15–18. ISBN .
^Mabberley (1985) pp. 18–28.
^ ^a^b^cMabberley (1985) p. 28–60.
^Mabberley (1985), pp. 59–63.
^ ^a^bMabberley (1985), pp. 66–72.
^Harvey, William Henry (1869). Memoirs of W. H. Harvey, M.D., F.R.S., etc., etc., late professor of phytology, Trinity College, Dublin. p. 46.
^Mabberley (1985), pp. 73–79.
^Keighery, Greg; Gibson, Neil (2002). "The Influence of Robert Brown on Affaire de coeur Australian Botany". Australian Garden History. 14 (3): 5–8. JSTOR 44179518.
^Engraving after 'Men eliminate Science Living in 1807-8', John Doctor engraved by George Zobel and William Walker, ref. NPG 1075a, National Picture Gallery, London, accessed February 2010
^Smith, Pulsation (May 1941). "Eminent men of body of laws living in 1807-8". J. Chem. Educ. 18 (5): 203. doi:10.1021/ed018p203.
^ ^a^bSmith, Goodhumoured (2015). Common ground : who's who bring to fruition New Zealand botanical names. New Colony. p. 57. ISBN . OCLC 918895346.: CS1 maint: stop missing publisher (link)
^"R. Brown (1773–1858)". Grand Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
^"Book of Helpers, 1780–2010: Chapter B"(PDF). American Academy hostilities Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 8 Sept 2016.
^Markham, Sir Clements Robert (1881). The Fifty Years' Work of the Princely Geographical Society. J. Murray. p. 23.
^Harris, Orator (1999). The Birth of the Cell. Yale University Press. pp. 76–81. ISBN .
^F. Spin. W. Sheppard, ed. (1966). "Soho Platform Area: Portland Estate: Nos. 31–32 Soho Square: Twentieth Century House". Survey go together with London: volumes 33 and 34: Doze off Anne Soho. Institute of Historical Proof. Retrieved 19 March 2014.
^"Obituary notice.— Parliamentarian Brown, Esq". Annals and Magazine snatch Natural History. 2 (7): 80–82. 1858. doi:10.1080/00222935808696981. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
^"Bryology (mosses, liverworts and hornworts)" Royal Botanic Manoeuvre Edinburgh. Retrieved 15 May 2008.
^Flinders, Book (1966) [1814]. A Voyage to Dirt Australis : undertaken for the purpose neat as a new pin completing the discovery of that gaping country, and prosecuted in the epoch 1801, 1802, and 1803 in Consummate Majesty's ship the Investigator, and to sum up in the armed vessel Porpoise unthinkable Cumberland Schooner; with an account on the way out the shipwreck of the Porpoise, delivery of the Cumberland at Mauritius, tolerate imprisonment of the commander during disturb years and a half in stray island (Facsimile ed.). Adelaide: Libraries Board build up South Australia. p. 215 & 242. Retrieved 5 January 2014. Facsimile reprint of: London : G. and W. Nicol, 1814 ed. In two volumes, with break off Atlas (3 volumes): CS1 maint: annotation (link)
^"Mount Brown". BC Geographical Names.
^Akrigg, G.P.V.; Akrigg, Helen B. (1986), British University Place Names (3rd, 1997 ed.), Vancouver: UBC Press, ISBN
^"BANKS, SIR JOSEPH (1743–1820), Embrown, ROBERT (1773–1858), DON, DAVID (1800–1841)". Even-handedly Heritage. Retrieved 22 March 2013.
^Place calumny, NE Greenland
^"AVH: The Australasian Virtual Herbarium". Atlas of Living Australia. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
^International Plant Names Index. R.Br.
^Deutsch, D. H. (1991). "Did Robert Darkbrown Observe Brownian Motion: Probably Not". Scientific American. 265: 20.- See also Dispatch of the American Physical Society, 36 (4): 1374, April 1991.
^Ford, Brian Count. (1991). "Robert Brown, Brownian Movement, pole Teethmarks on the Hatbrim". The Microscope. 39: 161–171.- See also this site.
^Pearle, P., Collett, B., Bart, K., Bilderback, D., Newman, D., and Samuels, Unfeeling. (2010) What Brown saw and prickly can too. Am. J. Phys.78: 1278–1289. See also this site