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nYesterdaynwas Darwin Day, on which we honor perhaps the greatest naturalist ofnall time…and today is the birthday of another great naturalist,nJoseph Banks.
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Bornnto a wealthy English family on this date in 1743, Banks learned aboutnnature from nature but also at Oxford University. He met with othernscientific men of his day at the Chelsea Physic Garden and thenBritish Museum, and he became an advisor to the king of England,nurging him to support voyages of discovery to new lands.
Bornnto a wealthy English family on this date in 1743, Banks learned aboutnnature from nature but also at Oxford University. He met with othernscientific men of his day at the Chelsea Physic Garden and thenBritish Museum, and he became an advisor to the king of England,nurging him to support voyages of discovery to new lands.n
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nThenking must’ve agreed, because soon Banks was off on several voyages ofndiscovery. He described birds, including auks, when he traveled tonNewfoundland and Labrador, in northern Canada. (He mistakenly callednthe auks penguins, but penguins are a southern-hemispherenbird, and they are not closely related to auks.)
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| “Kookaburra sits in an old gum tree…” |
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nBanks’snmost important voyage was with James Cook’s HM Bark Endeavor.nCook and Banks traveled to Brazil, other parts of South America, thennTahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. Banks did the first scientificnstudy of the beautiful, bright bougainvillea plant while in Brazil,nand he and two other botanists made the first major collection ofnAustralian flora (plants), with more than 800 specimens described andnalso illustrated by shipmate Sydney Parkinson.
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nThisnvoyage to Australia took place from 1768 to 1771. When the explorersnreturned to England, they were instantly famous. Banks hired fivenartists to create watercolor paintings from Parkinson’s drawings andnnotes about color. He went on to hire 18 engravers to turn the 743ncompleted watercolor paintings into copper plates. (This was veryncostly, but remember, Banks was a wealthy man!) Banks didn’t publishnthese illustrations, but instead gave the copper plates to thenBritish Museum.
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nBanks’snFlorilegium was finallynpublished in 34 volumes just recently—between 1980 and 1990!
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n(Bynthe way, Joseph Banks’s birthday is given here in “old style”;naccording to the Gregorian calendar, his birthday is February 24.)
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nAlsonon this date:
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nAnniversary of the Treaty of Lisbon
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nArtist Grant Wood’s birthday
