Robert brown discovery of cell
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BROWN, ROBERT, explorer, botanist, and author; b. 23 March 1842 in Camster, Scotland, son of Thomas Brown; m. 1875 Kristiane Augusta Maria Eleonora Rudmose of Ferslev, Denmark, and they had two sons; d. 26 Oct. 1895 in Streatham (London), England.
As a young man, Robert Brown displayed an inclination for travel. In 1861, at the age of 19, he interrupted his medical studies at the University of Edinburgh, where he was a prize-winner in botany, in order to go on a seal and whale hunt in the Arctic. The party visited Iceland, Greenland, and Baffin Bay (N.W.T.), an area frequented by many Scottish whalers in that period [see William Penny]. Further opportunity for travel occurred when the British Columbia Botanical Association of Edinburgh appointed Brown its seed collector in February 1863.
Brown arrived in Victoria on 6 May. His first expedition was to Great Central Lake, Sproat Lake, Alberni Inlet, and Nootka Sound. Subsequently, he travelled on the Olympic peninsula (Wash.) and up the Fraser River. Brown’s Scottish sponsors were diss
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Lunan Bay Near Montrose |
Robert Brown, FRS, lived from 21 December 1773 to 10 June 1858. He was a botanist best known for his work in Australia, and he was also one of the first to observe the phenomenon since called Brownian motion. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.
Robert Brown was born in Montrose. After being schooled locally he went on to become a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, where fellow students included Thomas Dick and Robert Jameson. In 1795 he joined the army as a surgeon, and in 1800 volunteered to serve as the naturalist on board HMS Investigator during the circumnavigation of Australia by Captain Matthew Flinders, RN. The expedition arrived off what is now Western Australia in December 1801. Over the next two and a half years Brown collected some 3400 species of plants, of which around 2000 were previously unknown. Much of the collection was lost when the ship on which Brown was returning to England, HMS Porpoise was w
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Robert Brown (botanist, born 1773)
Scottish botanist (1773–1858)
For other botanists with the same name, see Robert Brown (botanist, born 1842) and Robert Brown (New Zealand botanist).
Robert Brown FRSE FRS FLSMWS (21 December 1773 – 10 June 1858) was a Scottish botanist and paleobotanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope. His contributions include one of the earliest detailed descriptions of the cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming; the observation of Brownian motion; early work on plant pollination and fertilisation, including being the first to recognise the fundamental difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms; and some of the earliest studies in palynology. He also made numerous contributions to plant taxonomy, notably erecting a number of plant families that are still accepted today; and numerous Australian plant genera and species, the fruit of his exploration of that continent with Matthew Flinders.
Early life
Robert Brown was born in Montrose, Scotland on 21 December 1773, in a house th
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