Joseph de Jussieu

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Cantua buxifolia Lam., National flower of Peru

Joseph de Jussieu (born September 3, 1704 in Lyon , † April 11, 1779 in Paris ) was a French doctor and botanist , but also an engineer and mathematician. Its official botanical author abbreviation is " J.Juss. ".

Live and act

Joseph de Jussieu is the son of the pharmacist Laurent de Jussieu (1651–1718) and the youngest brother of Christophe de Jussieu (1685–1758), Antoine de Jussieu and Bernard de Jussieu . He studied medicine in Paris and graduated there in 1733.

He accompanied the on behalf of Louis XV. In 1735 he started an expedition to measure the length of a degree of latitude ( see main article Measurement of degrees and meridian arc ) as an official botanist, which finally led him to Peru via Martinique and Santo Domingo .

He collected plants around Quito and Lima, samples and seeds of which he sent to Paris. For example, he sent leaves of the coca bush to his cousin Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu . He is also responsible for the introduction of Heliotropium peruvianum . In the vicinity of Loxa he studied together with Charles-Marie de la Condamine cinchona trees . Despite his extensive plant collection, Jussieu did not provide a valid first description . He only contributed to the taxonomy the name of the plant genus Cantua, described by Lamarck in 1785, from the family of pennies .

In 1742 he was admitted to the Academy of Sciences of France.

After 15 years of collecting in Peru, his servant robbed him of his collections. In 1771 Joseph de Jussieu returned to France in bad health and mentally confused.

Honor taxon

William Houstoun named a plant genus Jussieva in honor of him and his brothers Antoine de Jussieu and Bernard de Jussieu . Carl von Linné , however, assigned them to Jatropha and named the genus Jussiaea of the evening primrose family (Onagraceae) after them .

The asteroid (9470) Jussieu was named in honor of him and Antoine-Laurent , Bernard and Adrien-Henri-Laurent de Jussieu.

Works

  • Quaestio medica… An in reactionis actionisque aequalitate, oeconomia animalis? 1733 - Dissertation under Paul-Jacques Malouin (1701–1778)
  • Description de l'arbre à quinquina: mémoire inédit de Joseph de Jussieu . 1936 - Translation of a Latin manuscript by Pancier

literature

  • Gaston Lehir: Joseph de Jussieu et son exploration en Amérique méridionale (1735-1769) à partir de sources manuscrites . PhD thesis. Montreal: Université de Montreal, Faculte des etudes superieures, 1976

swell

  • Johann Christian Ferdinand Höfer : Nouvelle biographie générale: depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours, avec les renseignements bibliographiques et l'indication des sources à consulter . Paris: Firmin Didot, 1852–1866. - 46 volumes
  • Annales du Muséum d'histoire naturelle . Volume 6, 1805, p. 15
  • Pierre Flourens : Recueil des éloges historiques lus dans les séances publiques de l'Institut de France . Volume 2, 1857

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Family genealogy
  2. ^ Samuel Highley: The British and Foreign Medico-surgical Review, Or, Quarterly Journal of Practical Medicine & Surgery . Volume 32, 1863
  3. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 366.
  4. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 93.
  5. ↑ Carl von Linné: Species Plantarum . Leiden 1753, p. 388.
  6. ^ Lutz D. Schmadel: Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Volume 1, 5th revised and expanded edition. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2003, ISBN 3-540-00238-3 , p. 693.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Jussieu, Joseph de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French botanist
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1704
PLACE OF BIRTH Lyon
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1779
Place of death Paris