Candolle, Augustin Pyrame de

Candolle, Augustin Pyrame de

▪ Swiss botanist
born Feb. 4, 1778, Geneva
died Sept. 9, 1841, Geneva
 Swiss botanist who established scientific structural criteria for determining natural relations among plant genera. After Charles Darwin's introduction of the principles of organic evolution, Candolle's criteria provided the empirical foundation for a modern evolutionary history of plants. His system of plant classification found nearly universal application for half a century, during which time it served as a model for other systems.

      After his arrival in Paris (1796), Candolle struck up a friendship with the French naturalists Georges Cuvier and Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, became an assistant to Cuvier at the Collège de France (1802), and prepared revisions of Lamarck's Flore française (1805, 1815). When he was appointed professor of botany at the University of Montpellier (1808), Candolle had already begun a government-commissioned botanical and agricultural survey of France (1806–12), the results of which he published in 1813.

      Also in 1813 Candolle published his most important work, Théorie élémentaire de la botanique, in which he contended that plant anatomy, not physiology, must be the sole basis of classification, for which he coined the term taxonomy. After introducing the concept of homologous parts (of common ancestry, although different in structure) for plants as Cuvier had done for animals—particularly convincing evidence in favour of organic evolution—Candolle, like Cuvier, nonetheless retained a firm belief in the constancy of species.

      Accepting the natural history chair at the Université de Genève (1817–41), where he was the first director of the botanical gardens, Candolle undertook the detailed development of ideas presented in the Théorie, first outlining systematic laws of botanical nomenclature in his Regni Vegetabilis Systema Naturale (2 vol., 1818–21; “Natural Classification for the Plant Kingdom”). He next undertook the most ambitious task of preparing a descriptive classification of all known seed plants, Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis (17 vol., 1824–73), for which he prepared the first seven volumes.

      Although his taxonomy suffered from a failure to observe his own criteria in formulating broad taxa, resulting in his inclusion of gymnosperms with dicotyledons, ferns with monocotyledons, and all else as acotyledons, Candolle achieved extensive subdivision of flowering plants, describing 161 families of dicotyledons, and demonstrated decisively the inadequacy of Linnaean classification, which his system supplanted. He also pioneered the study of phytogeography, the biogeography of plants, by carrying out investigations in Brazil (1827), East India (1829), and North China (1834).

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужна курсовая?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Candolle , Augustin Pyrame de — (1778–1841) Swiss botanist Candolle, who was born in Geneva, Switzerland, studied medicine for two years at the academy there before moving to Paris in 1796 to study both medicine and natural sciences. In Paris he met many distinguished… …   Scientists

  • Candolle, Augustin (Pyrame de) — (4 feb. 1778, Ginebra, Suiza–9 sep. 1841, Ginebra). Botánico suizo. En París (desde 1796) pasó a ser ayudante de Georges Cuvier y colaboró con Lamarck en la revisión de su obra botánica. Comisionado por el gobierno, llevó a cabo un reconocimiento …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Candolle, Augustin (Pyrame de) — born Feb. 4, 1778, Geneva, Switz. died Sept. 9, 1841, Geneva Swiss botanist. In Paris (from 1796) he became an assistant to Georges Cuvier and worked with Lamarck on revising his botanical works. He carried out a government commissioned botanical …   Universalium

  • Augustin Pyrame de Candolle — Nacimiento 4 de febrero de 1778 Ginebra Fallecimiento …   Wikipedia Español

  • Augustin Pyrame de Candolle — Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, auch Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (* 4. Februar 1778 in Genf; † 9. September 1841 ebenda) war ein Schweizer Botaniker und Naturwissenschaftler. Sein offizielles botanisches Autorenkürzel lautet „DC.“ …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Augustin-Pyrame de Candolle — Augustin Pyrame de Candolle, auch Augustin Pyramus de Candolle (* 4. Februar 1778 in Genf; † 9. September 1841 ebenda) war ein Schweizer Botaniker und Naturwissenschaftler. Sein offizielles botanisches Autoren …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Augustin Pyrame De Candolle — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Candolle. Augustin Pyrame de Candolle Augustin Pyrame de Candol …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Augustin pyrame de candolle — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Candolle. Augustin Pyrame de Candolle Augustin Pyrame de Candol …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Augustin Pyrame de Candolle — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Candolle. Augustin Pyrame de Candolle Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Candolle, Alphonse Pyrame de — ▪ Swiss botanist born Oct. 27/28, 1806, Paris died April 4, 1893, Geneva       Swiss botanist who introduced new methods of investigation and analysis to phytogeography, a branch of biology that deals with the geographic distribution of plants.… …   Universalium

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”