William Roxburgh (June 29, 1751 – April 10, 1815) was a Scottish surgeon[1] and botanist. Events 512 - A Solar eclipse is recorded by a monastic chronicler in Ireland. Year 1751 ( MDCCLI) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Events 879 - Louis III becomes King of the Western Franks. 1407 - the lama Year 1815 ( MDCCCXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. In Medicine, a surgeon is a person who performs Surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive Medical treatment that involves the cutting of a Botany, plant science(s, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of Biology and is the scientific study of plant Life He has been called the Father of Indian Botany. [2]
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Early life
Roxburgh was born at Underwood in the parish of Craigie, Ayrshire. Ayrshire (Siorrachd Inbhir Àir ʃir̴əxg̊ iɲiɾʲˈaːɾʲ is a Registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, He studied medicine in Edinburgh. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. He had been a surgeon's mate on an East India Company ship at the age of 17 and had completed two voyages to the East in that capacity until the age of 21. The Honourable East India Company ( HEIC) referred to most commonly as the East India Company, also historically and colloquially as John Company, or He also studied botany in Edinburgh under John Hope. He joined the Madras Medical Service as an assistant surgeon in 1776 and became a surgeon in 1780. [3]
Career
At Madras he turned his attention to botany. Botany, plant science(s, phytology, or plant biology is a branch of Biology and is the scientific study of plant Life The East India Company recognized his botanical knowledge and made him superintendent in the Samalkot garden in the Northern Circars in 1781. The Northern Circars was a former division of British India 's Madras Presidency, which consisted of a narrow slip of territory lying along the western side of the Here he conducted economic botany experiments. He employed native artists to illustrate plants. He had 700 illustration by 1790. He then succeeded Patrick Russell (1727-1805) as Naturalist to the Madras Government. Patrick Russell can refer to Sir Thomas Patrick Russell (1926–2002 an English High Court judge and a member of the Privy Council Patrick He made rapid progress and acquired a good reputation and was in a short time invited by the government of Bengal, to take charge of the Calcutta Botanical gardens from Colonel Robert Kyd. Etymology and ethnology The exact origin of the word Bangla or Bengal is unknown though it is believed to be derived from the Dravidian-speaking tribe Bang The Indian Botanical Gardens Howrah are situated in Shibpur, Howrah near Kolkata. Colonel Robert Kyd (1746–26 May 1793 was a British army officer stationed in India. In 1793 he succeeded Colonel Robert Kyd as Superintendent of the Company garden at Sibpur near Calcutta. A catalog of the garden was made in 1814 - Hortus Bengalensis. He sent many of his illustrations to Sir Joseph Banks. Sir Joseph Banks 1st Baronet, GCB, PRS (13 February 1743 &ndash 19 June 1820 was an English naturalist, botanist and patron of He was succeeded by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton. Dr Francis Buchanan, later known as Francis Hamilton but often referred to as Francis Buchanan-Hamilton ( February 15, 1762 - June 15
He meticulously collected vast amounts of meteorological data for years, and is considered as a pioneer in the collection of tropical meteorological data, to an extent unrivalled elsewhere until the 1820s. [1] He had begun collecting detailed meteorological data as soon as he set foot in India, at Madras and is known to have taken measurements three times a day, using Ramsden barometer and Nairne thermometers, made by then reputed scientific instrument makers, Jesse Ramsden and Edward Nairne. History The first barometer is thought to have been built unintentionally by Gasparo Berti, sometime between 1640 and 1643 The thermometer is a device that measures Temperature or Temperature gradient using a variety of different principles it comes from the Greek roots Jesse Ramsden ( October 6, 1735 – November 5, 1800) was an English astronomical and scientific instrument maker Edward Nairne b Sandwich, England, 1726 d London, September 1 1806, was an optician and scientific instrument maker [4] His training under John Hope, who was the curator of the Edinburgh botanical garden and an experimental physiologist. John Hope may be Sir John Bruce Hope 7th Baronet, MP for Kinross 1727&ndash1734 1741&ndash1747 John Hope (surgeon (1725&ndash1786 The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is both a scientific institution and a tourist attraction Roxburgh's interest in systematic meteorology may have stemmed from the influence of John Hope as well as his experiences at the Royal Society of Arts which in the early 1770s was greatly influenced by the climatic theories of Stephen Hales and Duhamel du Monceau. The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts Manufactures and Commerce ( RSA) is a British multi-disciplinary institution based in London. Stephen Hales, FRS ( 17 September 1677 &ndash 4 January 1761) was an English Physiologist, Chemist Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau ( July 20, 1700 Paris - August 13, 1782, Paris was a French naval engineer and botanist Such detailed measurements over many years led him to form an opinion on widespread famine and climate change in the empire. For usage see British rule in India British Raj ( rāj, lit "reign" in Hindustani) primarily refers to the British [1]
He became a member of the Asiatic Society, to whose Transactions he contributed, from time to time, many valuable papers, and amongst these one of singular interest on the lacca insect, from which called lac was made. The Asiatic Society was founded by Sir William Jones ( 1746 - 1794) on January 15, 1784 in a meeting presided over by Sir Robert
Recognition, Death
In 1805, he received the gold medal of the Society for the Promotion of Arts, for a series of highly interesting and valuable communications on the subject of the productions of the East. In 1803 he received a second gold medal for a communication on the growth of trees in India, and on the 31st of May, 1814, was presented with a third, in the presence of a large assembly which he personally attended, by the Duke of Norfolk, who was then president of the Society of Arts.
Soon after receiving this last honourable testimony of the high respect in which his talents were held, Mr Roxburgh returned to Edinburgh, where he died.
Posthumous honours
In 1820 at the Mission Press in Serampore, William Carey posthumously edited and published vol. William Carey may refer to William Carey (1761&ndash1834 an English Protestant missionary William Carey (c 1 of Dr. William Roxburgh's Flora Indica; or Descriptions of Indian Plants. In 1824, Carey edited and published vol. 2 of Roxburgh's Flora Indica, including extensive remarks and contributions by Dr. Nathaniel Wallich. Carey and Wallich continued to work in the field of botany and in 1834, both Carey and Wallich contributed botanical specimens to the Royal Society for Agriculture and Botany's Winter Show in Ghent, Belgium. Ghent (ˈɡɛnt Gent ʝɛnt in Dutch, Gand in French, and formerly Gaunt in English) is a City and a The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those
References
- ^ a b c Grove, R. H. (1997) Ecology, Climate and Empire The White House Press, UK, p. 128
- ^ Bole, P. V. 1976. Review of Flora Indica or Descriptions of Indian Plants. by William Roxburgh, William CareyThe Quarterly Review of Biology, Vol. 51, No. 3:442-443
- ^ Noltie, H. J. (1999) Indian botanical drawings 1793-1868. ISBN 1-872291-23-6
- ^ Roxburgh, W 1790 A meteorological diary kept at Fort St George in the East Indies. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 80
- ^ Brummitt, R. K. ; C. E. Powell (1992). Authors of Plant Names. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, usually referred to simply as Kew Gardens, are extensive Gardens and botanical glasshouses between Richmond and ISBN 1-84246-085-4.
External links
- Plants of the coast of Coromandel on Botanicus
- Searchable online version of Flora Indica Scanned volumes [1] [2]
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