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Gustave Adolphe Thuret (23 May 1817 – 10 May 1875) was a noted
French botanist
Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...
, and founder of the
Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret
The Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret () is a renowned botanical garden located on the grounds of the Villa Thuret, 90, chemin Raymond, Antibes Juan-les-Pins, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. It is open weekdays without c ...
.
Biography
Born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, he belonged to an old
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
family, which had sought refuge in
Weesp
Weesp () is a city, an urban area in the municipality of Amsterdam and a former municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It had a population of in . It lies on the river Vecht and next to the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal in an are ...
(Dutch Republic) after the revocation of the
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...
. In 1808 his father, a merchant and banker, married in London Henrietta van der Paadevoort (Padevoirt), the daughter of a navy officer, born in
Demerara
Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state fro ...
(now
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
), but brought up or educated in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. In 1811 the family moved from Bath to Paris, where Isaac Thuret was appointed as the Dutch consul. As a young man Gustave studied Law, while being an amateur musician, and it was from a musical friend, de Villers, that he received, in 1837, his first initiation into botany. Beginning simply as a collector, he soon came under the influence of
Joseph Decaisne
Joseph Decaisne (7 March 1807 – 8 January 1882) was a French botanist and agronomist. He became an ''aide-naturaliste'' to Adrien-Henri de Jussieu (1797-1853), who served as the chair of rural botany. It was during this time that he began to stu ...
, whose pupil he became. It was Decaisne who first encouraged him to undertake those
algological studies which were to become the chief work of his life.
Thuret twice visited
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
in company with the French ambassador,
Edouard Pontois, and was for a time attache to the French embassy to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. His diplomatic career, though of short duration, gave him a valuable opportunity of studying the Oriental flora. After travelling in
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
in the autumn of 1841, he returned to France.
Giving up his intention of entering the civil service, he retired to his father's country house at
Rentilly, and thereafter devoted himself to scientific research. He had already, in 1840, published his first scientific paper, ''Notes sur 1ère anthere de Chara et les animalcules qu'elle renferme'', in which he first accurately described the organs of motion of the "
animalcules
Animalcule ('little animal', from Latin ''animal'' + the diminutive suffix ''-culum'') is an old term for microscopic organisms that included bacteria, protozoans, and very small animals. The word was invented by 17th-century Dutch scientist A ...
" or spermatozoids of these plants. He continued his studies of the
zoospore
A zoospore is a motile asexual spore that uses a flagellum for locomotion. Also called a swarm spore, these spores are created by some protists, bacteria, and fungi to propagate themselves.
Diversity Flagella types
Zoospores may possess one or mo ...
s and male cells of Algae and other similar plants, and contributed to the understanding of such
motile stages in vegetable life.
Thuret spent a great part of his time, up to 1857, on the
Atlantic coast of France, carrying out an intense observation of marine Algae in their natural habitat at all seasons. In conjunction with his friend
Edouard Bornet, he became the recognized authority on this important group of plants, of which the two colleagues acquired an unrivalled knowledge. Their work, while remarkable for
taxonomic
Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification.
A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...
accuracy, was more especially concentrated on the
natural history, development and modes of reproduction of the plants investigated. They did much work in the area of
sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is a type of reproduction that involves a complex life cycle in which a gamete ( haploid reproductive cells, such as a sperm or egg cell) with a single set of chromosomes combines with another gamete to produce a zygote tha ...
in
seaweed
Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...
s.
The researches on the
fecundation
Fertilisation or fertilization (see spelling differences), also known as generative fertilisation, syngamy and impregnation, is the fusion of gametes to give rise to a new individual organism or offspring and initiate its development. Proce ...
of the ''
Fucaceae
The Fucaceae are a family of brown algae, containing six genera:
*''Ascophyllum'' Stackhouse – one species
*''Fucus'' L. – 15 species
*'' Hesperophycus'' Setchell & Gardner – one species
*'' Pelvetia'' Decne. & Thur. – one species
*'' Pel ...
'' were published by Thuret in 1853 and 1855; the complicated and difficult question of the sexual reproduction in Floridae was solved by the joint work of Thuret and Bornet (1867). Alongside the important discoveries in this area, the two scientists' researches helped elucidate every group of marine Algae. Thuret's style in expounding his results was hailed as singularly clear and concise; a man of thorough education, he was also noted for expressing his ideas with literary skill. Much of his best work remained unpublished during his life. A portion of the material accumulated by himself and his colleague was embodied in two magnificent works published after his death the ''Notes algologiques'' (1876–1880), and ''Études phycologiques'' (1878). These volumes, as well as earlier memoirs, are illustrated by accurate drawings by the artist
Alfred Riocreux, whom Thuret employed.
In 1857 Thuret moved his research to
Antibes
Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice.
The town of ...
(on the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...
coast), where, on a once barren promontory, he established a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
which became famous throughout the scientific world. Since his death the garden (now known as the
Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret
The Jardin botanique de la Villa Thuret () is a renowned botanical garden located on the grounds of the Villa Thuret, 90, chemin Raymond, Antibes Juan-les-Pins, Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France. It is open weekdays without c ...
) has been placed at the disposal of botanical workers as an institute for research.
Thuret died suddenly, while on a visit to
Nice
Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...
. He was a man of considerable wealth, which, together with his time and interest, he devoted to science.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thuret, Gustave Adolphe
19th-century French botanists
19th-century French diplomats
Scientists from Paris
1817 births
1875 deaths