Armand David

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Armand David.

Jean Pierre Armand David (born September 7, 1826 in Espelette near Bayonne , † November 10, 1900 in Paris ), also Père David , was a French naturalist with extensive knowledge of geology , mineralogy , ornithology , zoology and botany . Its official botanical author abbreviation is " David ". He belonged to the Catholic order of the Lazarists .

biography

In 1862 he wanted to found a school for young Chinese in Beijing, but soon shifted his activities to zoology and started collections on behalf of the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle (Natural Science Museum) in Paris. In 1868 his way led through the Mongolian plateau around Kuku-choto and then to the Hoangho . In 1872 he was in the area of Chengde , then Jehol, where the route of his excursions on foot corresponds to the route Beijing-Moscow. In 1874 he traveled to the northeastern border of the Tibetan highlands for 25 months . He then had to leave China for health reasons.

Among other things, he sent seeds of the handkerchief tree ( Davidia involucrata ), which was later named after him, to Paris. The Englishman Ernest Henry Wilson was the first to document the tree in China in the late 19th century; Père David rediscovered it there, collected the nut-shaped kernels and brought them to Paris. The David deer ( Elaphurus davidianus ) was named after him; In 1865, despite the ban, he climbed the wall of the imperial Nan Hai-Tsu Park near Beijing and was probably the first European to observe these deer. By bribing the guards, David got two skins, which he sent to Europe, where the zoologist Henri Milne-Edwards described the species. In March 1869 David became the first European to see a hunted giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ), which he described scientifically. Together with Émile Oustalet he wrote Les Oiseaux de la Chine (2 vols., 1877), in which he noted that he had observed 772 different species of birds; In total, he sent more than 1,300 brats from 470 bird species to the museum in Paris.

The Armand pine ( Pinus armandii Franch.), Whose natural area extends from Tibet via West China to Korea, the David's lily ( Lilium davidii ), the handkerchief tree ( Davidia involucrata ) and these are most common in gardens today were named after David Planted species of summer lilac , butterfly lilac ( Buddleia davidii ), as well as the Pater David's mole ( Talpa davidiana ).

On April 1, 1872, he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences .

Individual evidence

  1. V. Chansigaud: The History of Ornithology . London 2009, p. 118.
  2. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter D. Académie des sciences, accessed on February 9, 2020 (French).

Web links

Commons : Armand David  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files