Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (28 October 18064 April 1893) was a French-Swiss botanist, the son of the Swiss botanist

Augustin Pyramus de Candolle Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

Biography

De Candolle, son of

, first devoted himself to the study of law, but gradually drifted to botany and finally succeeded to his father's chair at the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centur ...

. He published a number of botanical works, including continuations of the ''Prodromus'' in collaboration with his son,

Casimir de Candolle Anne Casimir Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (20 February 1836, Geneva – 3 October 1918, Chêne-Bougeries) was a Swiss botanist, the son of Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle. Early life and education He studied chemistry, physics and mathematics i ...

. Among his other contributions is the formulation, based on his father's work for the ''Prodromus'', of the first Laws of Botanical Nomenclature, which was adopted by the International Botanical Congress in 1867, and was the prototype of the current ICN. He was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

in 1859 and was awarded the

Linnean Medal The Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London was established in 1888, and is awarded annually to alternately a botanist or a zoologist or (as has been common since 1958) to one of each in the same year. The medal was of gold until 1976, and ...

of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature colle ...

in 1889. He was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1878. He is also known for a study of the religious affiliations of foreign members of the French and British Academies of Science during the

Scientific Revolution The Scientific Revolution was a series of events that marked the emergence of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology (including human anatomy) and chemistry transforme ...

that demonstrated that in both academies

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to ...

s were more heavily represented than

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

s by comparison with catchment populations. This observation continues to be used (for example in

David Landes David Saul Landes (April 29, 1924 – August 17, 2013) was a professor of economics and of history at Harvard University. He is the author of ''Bankers and Pashas'', '' Revolution in Time'', ''The Unbound Prometheus'', ''The Wealth and Poverty o ...

' 1999 ''Wealth and Poverty of Nations'', cf. revised paperback edition, 177) as a demonstration that Protestants were more inclined to be scientifically active during the Scientific Revolution than Roman Catholics. In 1855 de Candolle published ''Géographie botanique raisonnée''. This was a ground-breaking book that for the first time brought together the large mass of data being collected by the expeditions of the time. The natural sciences had become highly specialized, yet this book synthesized them to explain living organisms within their environment, and why plants were distributed the way they were, all upon a geologic scale. This book had a significant impact upon Harvard botanist

Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...

Works

* * (First edition in French) * * Candolle, Alphonse de -
Lois de la nomenclature botanique adoptées par le Congrès international de botanique tenu à Paris en août 1867...
' Genève et Bale: H. Georg; Paris: J.-B. Baillière et fils, 1867. 64 p. * Candolle, Alphonse de (Membre Corr. de l'Acad. Sciences, Paris; Foreign Member, Royal Soc, etc.) - ''Histoire des Sciences et des Savants depuis deux Siècles.'' Geneva, 1873. * Candolle, Alphonse de. (1882)
''Darwin considéré au point de vue des causes de son succès et de l'importance de ses travaux''
Genève: H. Georg.

References

Bibliography

* *
Works available at Botanicus

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Candolle, Alphonse Pyramus de 1806 births 1893 deaths Swiss entomologists Botanists with author abbreviations University of Geneva faculty Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Foreign Members of the Royal Society Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) 19th-century French botanists 19th-century Swiss botanists Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala