Title
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort
Caption
Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (15th June 1656, Aix-en-Provence 28 December 1708, Paris) was a french botanist. He studied with the Jesuits and it was intended that his chosen profession be to become a priest. However, the death of his father left him free to follow his own interests, in particular withing the field of botany, a subject with which he had developed an infatuation from a very young age. He introduced himself to the physical structure of plants in Savoie as well as in Dauphiné (which today is home to the National Museum of National History in Paris). His main work on the subject of botany was titled "Institutiones rei herbariae" (1700), the latin translation of which was completed by Tournefort himself, in which he classified various plants acoording to their shape; but more importantly, also made the clear distinction between "genus" and "species", thereby laying out the groundwork to be developed further by Linné. He was run over and killed by a carriage in Paris, the road on which he was killed now bears his name (rue Tournefort in the 5th arrondissement). He also went on to write "De optima methode instituenda in re herbaria" (1697) and his "Histoire des plantes qui naissent aux environs de Paris" (1698), an english translation of which was published in 1732. He left his manuscripts to his friend and student, Michel Louis Renaume de la Garance (1676-1739). Linné dedicated a species of flower to him from the Boraginaceae family: Tournefortia.
Date
19th century
Credit line
Photo12/Hachedé
Reference
HAC07250_2004_P1700159
Model release
No
License type
Rights managed
Available size
43,1Mb (5,7Mb) / 13,1in x 12,8in / 3931 x 3831 (300dpi)