Pierre Belon

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Pierre Belon
Comparison of the skeletons of humans and birds. From: L 'histoire de la nature des oyseaux

Pierre Belon , Latinized Petrus Bellonius , German Peter Bellon (* 1517 in Souletière near Mans , † 1564 in Paris ), was a French naturalist and botanist.

Life

Belon studied medicine at the University of Wittenberg with Valerius Cordus in 1540 , in Paris in 1542, in Padua in 1544. From 1547 to 1549 he traveled with the support of the Catholic Church and in the service of Cardinal de Tournon through Italy, Greece, the Mediterranean islands, the Middle East and Egypt. In 1550 he returned to Rome with de Tournon. He then made another trip to London and Oxford to evaluate the travel results, which he wrote down in Paris.

Between 1550 and 1553 he completed his medical studies in Paris. He then worked as a personal physician for the Count of vielleville and was finally murdered in 1564 in the Bois de Boulogne near Paris.

Belon became famous for his numerous geological, botanical and zoological observations, especially for his writings on fish and birds. His “Fish Book”, published in Paris in 1551 and 1553, is considered the first (printed) book in Europe with depictions of fish from nature. He is considered a co-founder of comparative morphology. He described the plants of the Middle East and was the first to observe similarities ("homologies") in the basic plan of the vertebrate skeleton. So he gave a significant impetus for the further development of evolutionary theoretical ideas. Belon introduced the cedar, the judas tree and the pistachio in France and founded two botanical gardens.

Honor taxon

Charles Plumier named the genus Bellonia of the Gesneria family (Gesneriaceae) in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name.

Works

  • Les observations de plusieurs singularites & choses memorables, trouvees en Grece, Asie, Judee, Égypte, Arabie, & autres pays etranges, redigees en trois livres. Revues derechef, & augmentees de figures, avec une nouvelle table de toutes les matieres traitees en iceux (Paris, 1553)
  • L'histoire de la nature des oyseaux (Paris, 1555)

literature

  • Heinrich Eberhard Gottlob Paulus (Ed.): Collection of the strangest journeys to the Orient ,
    • Peter Belon's remarks on a journey from Cairo across the Sinaitean Dash from Petrean Arabia to Palestine. Between the years 1546 and 1549 , in: Vol. 1, Christian Heinrich Cuno's Erben, Jena, 1792, p. 197ff.
    • Peter Belon's remarks on his journey through Syria in: Vol. 2, Christian Heinrich Cuno's Erben, Jena, 1793, pp. 1ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claus Nissen: The zoological book illustration I. Stuttgart 1966, No. 301 f.
  2. ^ Heinrich Grimm: New contributions to the "fish literature" of the XV. to XVII. Century and through their printer and bookkeeper. In: Börsenblatt for the German book trade - Frankfurt edition. No. 89, November 5, 1968 (= Archive for the History of Books. Volume 62), pp. 2871–2887, here: pp. 2871 and 2877.
  3. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
  4. ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 19
  5. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 92
  6. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 72

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Belon, Pierre
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French naturalist and botanist
DATE OF BIRTH 1517
PLACE OF BIRTH Souletière at Mans
DATE OF DEATH 1564
Place of death Paris