Robert Brown and Mungo Park - Joel Schwartz

Robert Brown and Mungo Park

Travels and Explorations in Natural History for the Royal Society

(Autor)

Buch | Softcover
XIX, 217 Seiten
2021 | 1st ed. 2021
Springer International Publishing (Verlag)
978-3-030-74861-6 (ISBN)
35,30 inkl. MwSt

Explorer-naturalists Robert Brown and Mungo Park played a pivotal role in the development of natural history and exploration in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This work is a fresh examination of the lives and careers of Brown and Park and their impact on natural history and exploration. Brown and Park were part of a group of intrepid naturalists who brought back some of the flora and fauna they encountered, drawings of what they observed, and most importantly, their ideas. The educated public back home was able to gain an understanding of the diversity in nature. This eventually led to the development of new ways of regarding the natural world and the eventual development of a coherent theory of organic evolution. 

This book considers these naturalists, Brown, Park, and their contemporaries, from the perspective of the Scottish Enlightenment. Brown's investigations in natural history created a fertile environment for breakthroughs in taxonomy, cytology, and eventually evolution. Brown's pioneering work in plant taxonomy allowed biologists to look at the animal and plant kingdoms differently. Park's adventures stimulated significant discoveries in exploration. Brown and Park's adventures formed a bridge to such journeys as Charles Darwin's voyage on H.M.S. Beagle, which led to a revolution in biology and full explication of the theory of evolution.

Professor Emeritus Joel SchwartzRetired Professor of Biology and the History of ScienceCollege of Staten Island of the City University of New YorkSwampscott, Massachusetts 01907-1314United States of America

Preface.- Acknowledgements.- Introduction: Collecting, Observing, and Describing the Natural World.- Scientific Ferment in late Eighteenth Century Edinburgh.- Scientific Exploration During Voyages of Discovery.- ... the plants of Scotland might be equally useful.- Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa.- A good practical Botanist.- So remote a country as New Holland.- The Crew labouring under the Same disorder.- Mungo Park's Last Journey.- A Tedious and Uncomfortable Passage.- Prodrommus, Florae Novae Hollndiae.- Banks's Librarian.- Taking leave of Sir Joseph Banks.- Pollen Grains of Clarkis pulchella.- Epilogue: The greatest of Banksian botanist-librarians.- Bibliography.

"This is good solid work, and presents two individuals who deserve more attention from historians of botany. ... this is a triple biography, because Banks figured so significantly in the lives of Park and Brown and also in the development of the botanical enterprise in Britain." (Maura C. Flannery, Journal of the History of Biology, Vol. 57 (1), 2024)

"This is a well-written, extremely interesting account of the activities of several pre-Darwin scientists. ... Recommended. General readers through faculty." (F. W. Yow emeritus, Choice, Vol. 61 (5), 2024)

Erscheinungsdatum
Reihe/Serie Memoirs of The New York Botanical Garden
Zusatzinfo XIX, 217 p. 39 illus., 32 illus. in color.
Verlagsort Cham
Sprache englisch
Maße 155 x 235 mm
Gewicht 373 g
Themenwelt Informatik Weitere Themen Bioinformatik
Naturwissenschaften Biologie Botanik
Naturwissenschaften Biologie Evolution
Schlagworte Biological Taxonomy • Brownian Movement • Mungo Park • Natural System of Classification • Plant geography • Robert Brown • Scottish Enlightenment • Voyages of Discovery
ISBN-10 3-030-74861-8 / 3030748618
ISBN-13 978-3-030-74861-6 / 9783030748616
Zustand Neuware
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