Sir Robert Sibbald (15 April 1641 – August 1722) was a Scottish

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and

antiquary An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

Life

He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, the son of David Sibbald (brother of Sir

James Sibbald James Sibbald (–1647) was a Scottish Royalist divine, and theologian. Life James Sibbald was of an ancient family in the Mearns. His birth, about 1595, may be inferred from his being on ordination trials with the presbytery of Deer on 28 ...

) and Margaret Boyd (January 1606 – 10 July 1672). Educated at the Royal High School and the Universities of

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

, and

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 took his doctor's degree at the

University of Angers The University of Angers (french: Université d'Angers; UA) is a public university in western France, with campuses in Angers, Cholet, and Saumur. It forms part of thAngers-Le Mans University Community History The University of Angers was init ...

in 1662, and soon afterwards settled as a physician working in Edinburgh. He resided at "Kipps Castle" near

Linlithgow Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...

. In 1667 with Sir

Andrew Balfour Sir Andrew Balfour (21 March 1873 – 30 January 1931) was a Scottish Medical Officer who specialised in tropical medicine. Balfour spent twelve years in Khartoum, Sudan and was the Medical Officer of Health in the city. As well as writing m ...

he started the botanical garden in Edinburgh, and he took a leading part in establishing the

Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE) is a medical royal college in Scotland. It is one of three organisations that sets the specialty training standards for physicians in the United Kingdom. It was established by Royal charter ...

, of which he was elected president in 1684. Both Sibbald and Balfour were proponents of the

Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia The ''Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia'' was a medical guide consisting of recipes and methods for making medicine. It was first published by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh in 1699 as the ''Pharmacopoea Collegii Regii Medicorum Edimburgensiu ...

. In 1682, Sibbald began assembling material for a projected two volume geographical description or atlas of Scotland, recruiting parish ministers and members of the nobility and gentry to assist him in the task. While the work was never published, many of the manuscripts describing aspects of the geography, natural history and antiquities of parts of Scotland have survived. In 1685 he was appointed the first professor of medicine at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

. He was knighted, named Physician to the King, and appointed

Geographer Royal Geographer Royal is a Scottish honorific appointment. The holder of the position originally was intended to give geographic and mapping advice to the sovereign. In 1682, Charles II of England, King Charles II appointed the first Geographer Royal, ...

in 1682. His numerous and miscellaneous writings deal with historical and antiquarian as well as with botanical and medical subjects. He based many of his cartographical studies on the work of

Timothy Pont Rev Timothy Pont (c. 1560–c.1627) was a Scottish minister, cartographer and topographer. He was the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an a ...

. He is buried in

Greyfriars Kirkyard Greyfriars Kirkyard is the graveyard surrounding Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at the southern edge of the Old Town, adjacent to George Heriot's School. Burials have been taking place since the late 16th century, and a num ...

in Edinburgh in a vault against the southern wall. Sibbald mausoleum, Greyfriars Kirkyard

The wild flower of ''

Sibbaldia procumbens ''Sibbaldia procumbens'' (or creeping sibbaldia) is a species of flowering plant of the genus ''Sibbaldia'' in the rose family. It has an Arctic–alpine distribution; it can be found throughout the Arctic, as well as the at higher elevations in ...

'' is named after him. As well as 2 genera from the family

Rosaceae Rosaceae (), the rose family, is a medium-sized family of flowering plants that includes 4,828 known species in 91 genera. The name is derived from the type genus ''Rosa''. Among the most species-rich genera are ''Alchemilla'' (270), ''Sorbus ...

; in 1753,

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

published ''

Sibbaldia ''Sibbaldia'' is a genus of flowering plants of the family Rosaceae, with a circumpolar distribution, including the high Arctic. Most of the species are found in the Himalaya. The type species is ''Sibbaldia procumbens''. It is also in the Rosoi ...

'', which is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of about 13 species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s. Then in 1941, Juz. published ''

Sibbaldianthe ''Sibbaldianthe'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Rosaceae. It is also in the Rosoideae subfamily. Its native range is from south eastern and eastern Europe (within East European Russia, Central European Russia, Crimea, Rom ...

'', which has about 7 species of plants.

Taxonomy of the blue whale—''Sibbaldus''

Sibbald is also remembered for his study of whales. Originally the

blue whale The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...

was named after Sibbald, who first described it scientifically. Although the blue whale is today usually classified as one of eight species in the genus ''Balaenoptera'', one authority still places it in a separate monotypic genus, ''Sibbaldus'', but this is not widely accepted. The blue whale was once commonly referred to as ''Sibbald's rorqual''.

Works

Sibbald's historical and antiquarian works include: *1683: ''An Account of the Scottish Atlas''. Folio, Edinburgh *1684: ''Scotia illustrata''. Edinburgh *1699: ''Memoria Balfouriana; sive, Historia rerum, pro literis promovendis, gestarum a ... fratribus Balfouriis ... Jacobo ... et ... Andrea. Authore R.S.''. Edinburgi: Typis Hæredum Andreæ Anderson *1699:
Provision for the poor in time of dearth and scarcity
' *1710: ''A History Ancient and Modern of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross''. Edinburgh *1711: ''Description of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland''. Folio, Edinburgh *1803: ''A History Ancient and Modern of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross''. Cupar *1837: ''The Remains of Sir Robert Sibbald, containing his autobiography, memoirs of the Royal College of Physicians, a portion of his literary correspondence, and an account of his MSS.''; dited_by_James_Maidment.html" ;"title="James_Maidment.html" ;"title="dited by James Maidment">dited by James Maidment">James_Maidment.html" ;"title="dited by James Maidment">dited by James Maidment 2 pt. in 1 vol. Edinburgh: [printed for the editor]; edition of thirty-five copies; the titlepage of the Autobiography bears the date 1833 *1845: ''Description of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland'' (folio, Edinburgh)

References

;Attribution *

External links

*Article a
National Library of Scotland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibbald, Robert 1641 births 1722 deaths University of Angers (pre-1793) alumni Scientists from Edinburgh People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh 17th-century Scottish medical doctors 18th-century Scottish medical doctors Scottish geographers Alumni of the University of Edinburgh University of Paris alumni Scottish antiquarians Leiden University alumni Scottish botanists Scottish zoologists Academics of the University of Edinburgh 18th-century Scottish people Scottish marine biologists Marine zoologists Scottish knights Medical doctors from Edinburgh Presidents of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Writers from Edinburgh