Ami Boué (16 March 179421 November 1881) was a

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

of French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

origin. Born at

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, he was trained in Edinburgh and across Europe. He travelled across Europe, studying geology, as well as ethnology, and is considered to be among the first to produce a geological map of the world.

Career

Boué was born in Hamburg where his grandfather Jacques Chapeaurouge had settled in 1705 and established a shipping company which grew. Born in a wealthy home, Boué studied in Hamburg and Geneva before going to study medicine at

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

from 1814 to 1817. Here he came under the influence of

Robert Jameson image:Robert Jameson.jpg, Robert Jameson Robert Jameson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish natural history, naturalist and mineralogist. As Regius Professor of Natural History at the Univers ...

, whose teachings in geology and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

inspired his future career. Boué was thus led to make geological expeditions to various parts of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

the Hebrides The Hebrides ( ; , ; ) are the largest archipelago in the United Kingdom, off the west coast of the Scottish mainland. The islands fall into two main groups, based on their proximity to the mainland: the Inner and Outer Hebrides. These isla ...

, and after taking his degree of M.D. in 1817 he settled for some years in Paris. In 1820 he issued his ''Essai géologique sur l'Écosse'', in which the eruptive rocks in particular were carefully described. He travelled much in Germany, Austria and southern Europe, studying various geological formations, and becoming one of the pioneers in geological research; he was one of the founders of the

Société Géologique de France The Société géologique de France (SGF) is a French learned society founded on 17 March 1830. As of 2006, it counts 1,200 members. History At its creation, its statutes indicate is to "compete for the advancement of Earth Sciences and Planets, ...

in 1830, and was its president in 1835. Boué married Eleonore Beinstingel in 1826 and lived for sometime in Berne and then at Vöslau. In 1841 he settled in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and became naturalized as an Austrian. To the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Vienna he communicated important papers on the geology of the Balkan States (1859–1870), and he also published ''Mémoires géologiques et paléontologiques'' (Paris, 1832) and ''La Turquie d'Europe; observations sur la geographie, la géologie, l'histoire naturelle'', etc. (Paris, 1840). This work was published in German under the title -- ''Die europäische T'ürkei''—in 1890. He was a correspondent of the Serbian Learned Society. In 1849 he published the first ethnological map of the

Balkan Peninsula The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

. He is buried in a crypt in the Vöslau cemetery.

Evolution

Boué was an advocate of

transmutation of species The Transmutation of species and transformism are 18th and early 19th-century ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a ter ...

. He was influenced by the evolutionary views of

Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (; 15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theorie ...

and

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biologi ...

.Corsi, Pietro. (2012). ''The Revolutions of Evolution: Geoffroy and Lamarck, 1825-1840''. ''Bulletin du Musée d’Anthropologie Préhistorique de Monaco'' 51: 97–122. He was supportive of

spontaneous generation Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from non-living matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was hypothesized that certain forms, such as fleas, could ...

and argued that spontaneously generated organisms existed at the microscopic level between animals and plants.

Honours

Ami Boué Bluff on

Graham Land Graham Land is the portion of the Antarctic Peninsula that lies north of a line joining Cape Jeremy and Cape Agassiz. This description of Graham Land is consistent with the 1964 agreement between the British Antarctic Place-names Committee ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

and streets in Budapest, Varna, Vienna and

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

are named after him. File:Улица Ами БУЕ.jpg, A view of Ami Boué Street in

, Bulgaria () File:Ethnographic map Ami Boué, 1847.jpg, Ethnographic map of the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

in 1847 from Ami Boue. File:Ami Boue 1850 geology.jpg, Geology of the world (1850)

References

External links

* * * * * * * *
Works by Boué, Ami at the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Boue, Ami 1794 births 1881 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Austrian ethnographers 19th-century Austrian geologists Scientists from Hamburg Presidents of Société géologique de France Proto-evolutionary biologists Wollaston Medal winners