Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)
Scottish botanist who pioneered microscopy and described the cell nucleus.
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Robert Brown was born in Montrose, Scotland on 21 December 1773.[1] He is known for naming the cell nucleus and for his systematic account of the Australian flora.[2][3] On 10 June 1858, Robert Brown passed away at his residence located at 17 Dean Street, Soho Square in London.[4]
Life and work
Brown was the son of James Brown, a minister, and Helen Brown née Taylor.[1] He dropped out of his medical course in 1793 and enlisted in the Fifeshire Fencibles in 1794.[1] After his family relocated to Edinburgh in 1790, Brown left Marischal College at Aberdeen during his fourth year of attendance.[1] At the University of Edinburgh, Brown registered for medical studies but his interest in botany grew, causing him to devote more attention to that field.[1]
The year 1810 saw the release of Prodromus Florae Novae Hollandiae et Insulae Van Diemen, which contained Brown's collected findings.[3] During an 1831 presentation to the Linnean Society, Brown introduced the term "cell nucleus" for the structure he identified.[2] When the Royal Geographical Society was established on 16 July 1830, Brown counted among its seven original founders.[5]
What the cited sources add
Brown believed the nucleus existed mainly in Monocotyledons, as noted in Harris's volume.[2]
References
- Wikipedia, "Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Mabberley 1985, p. 15–18 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Harris, Henry, "The Birth of the Cell", Yale University Press, 1999, p. 76–81 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Smith, "Common ground : who's who in New Zealand botanical names", 2015, p. 57 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Deaths", The Spectator, 19 June 1858, p. 20; "Soho Square Area: Portland Estate: Nos. 31–32 Soho Square: Twentieth Century House", Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho, 1966; "Obituary notice.— Robert Brown, Esq", Annals and Magazine of Natural History, 1858, p. 80–82 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Markham, "The Fifty Years' Work of the Royal Geographical Society", J. Murray, 1881, p. 23 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773) (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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