Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French
naval surgeon
A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail.
Ancient uses
Speciali ...
and
naturalist.
Biography
Gaimard was born at
Saint-Zacharie
Saint-Zacharie (; Provençal: ''Sant Jacariá'') is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France.
Population
Points of interest
* Parc du Moulin Blanc
* Eglise saint-jean baptiste
* Châtea ...
on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...
, subsequently earning his qualifications as a naval surgeon. Along with
Jean René Constant Quoy
Jean René Constant Quoy (10 November 1790 in Maillé, Vendée, Maillé – 4 July 1869 in Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, Rochefort) was a French naval surgeon, zoologist and anatomist.
In 1806, he began his medical studies at the school of naval ...
, he served as naturalist on the ships ''L'Uranie'' under
Louis de Freycinet
Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia.
Biography
He was born at ...
1817–1820, and ''
L'Astrolabe'' under
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...
1826–1829.
[Google Books]
Discovery of Australia's Fishes: A History of Australian Ichthyology to 1930 by Brian Saunders During this voyage they discovered the now extinct giant
skink
Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...
of
Tonga
Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...
, ''
Tachygia microlepis''.
From his studies of
cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
in Europe, he co-authored ''Du choléra-morbus en Russie, en Prusse et en Autriche, pendant les années 1831-1832'' (
Cholera morbus in Russia, Prussia and Austria in the years 1831 and 1832).
[World Cat Identities]
(publications)
He was the scientific leader on ''La Recherche
''La Recherche'' is a monthly French language popular science magazine covering recent scientific news. It is published by the Société d'éditions scientifiques (the ''Scientific Publishing Group''), a subsidiary of Financière Tallandier. Tal ...
'' (1835–1836) during its expedition to the Arctic Sea, making voyages to coastal Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
and Greenland
Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...
— from 27 April to 13 September 1835 and from 21 May to 26 September 1836. Along with exploratory and scientific goals, the crew of the expedition was asked to search for Jules de Blosseville
Jules is the French form of the Latin "Julius" (e.g. Jules César, the French name for Julius Caesar). It is the given name of:
People with the name
*Jules Aarons (1921–2008), American space physicist and photographer
*Jules Abadie (1876–195 ...
, who disappeared aboard the ''Lilloise'' in Arctic waters a few years earlier. Out of these trips came the 9-volume ''Voyage en Islande et au Groënland'' (8 text volumes, one of geographical illustrations), which was said at the time to be the definitive study of the islands.
From 1838 to 1840, again aboard ''La Recherche'', he was the leader of a scientific expedition to Lapland, Spitzbergen
Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...
, and the Faroe Islands
The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark.
They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...
.
Eponyms
Numerous species have been named in his honor; including the following:
*'' Bettongia gaimardi'' – eastern bettong
*'' Byblis gaimardi''
*'' Eualus gaimardii''
*'' Lophurella gaimardii'' – a marine alga
*''Poikilocarbo gaimardi
The red-legged cormorant (''Poikilocarbo gaimardi''), also known as the red-legged shag, red-footed cormorant, red-footed shag, Gaimard's cormorant and grey cormorant,Nelson, J. B. 2005. Cormorants and shags. Pages 512–14. In C. M. Perrins, W. ...
'', – red-legged cormorant
*'' Stenophis gaimardi'' – a colubrid
Colubridae (, commonly known as colubrids , from la, coluber, 'snake') is a family of snakes. With 249 genera, it is the largest snake family. The earliest species of the family date back to the Oligocene epoch. Colubrid snakes are found on ever ...
snake
Writings
His scientific publications include a major work on the results of each of these four great expeditions.
* ''Voyage autour du monde … pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820'' (with Louis Claude Desaulses de Freycinet, Jean René Constant Quoy, et al.), 1824.
* ''Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe exécuté par ordre du Roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829 sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont d'Urville'', (with Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville, J Tastu, Jean René Constant Quoy), 1829–1835.
*'' Voyage en Islande et au Groënland exécuté pendant les années 1835 et 1836 sur la corvette La Recherche'', (with Eugène Robert; France. Commission scientifique du Nord), 1851.
*'' Voyages en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feröe, pendant les années 1838, 1839, 1840 sur la corvette la Recherche, 1842''[Gallica]
Voyages en Scandinavie, en Laponie, au Spitzberg et aux Feröe
See also
* :Taxa named by Joseph Paul Gaimard
*European and American voyages of scientific exploration
The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
*La Recherche Expedition (1838–1840)
The La Recherche Expedition of 1838 to 1840 was a French Admiralty expedition whose destination was the North Atlantic and Scandinavian islands, including the Faroe Islands, Spitsbergen and Iceland.
The expedition in the Scandinavian countries fro ...
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaimard, Joseph Paul
French naturalists
Teuthologists
French ornithologists
1796 births
1858 deaths
People from Var (department)
French surgeons
Conchologists
Naval surgeons