Antoine Laurent de Jussieu

Infobox_Scientist
name = Antoine Laurent de Jussieu


image_width =
caption =
birth_date = birth date|1748|4|12|mf=y
birth_place = Lyon, France
death_date = death date and age|1836|9|17|1748|4|12|mf=y
death_place =
residence = flagcountry|France
nationality = flagcountry|France
field = Botany
work_institution = Jardin des Plantes
alma_mater =
doctoral_advisor =
doctoral_students =
known_for = Classification of flowering plants
author_abbreviation_bot = Juss.

Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (April 12, 1748 - September 17, 1836) was a French botanist, notable as the first to propose a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today.

Jussieu was born in Lyon, the nephew of the botanist Bernard de Jussieu. He went to Paris to study medicine, graduating in 1770. He was professor of botany at the Jardin des Plantes from 1770 to 1826. His son Adrien-Henri also became a botanist.

In his study of flowering plants, "Genera plantarum" (1789), Jussieu adopted a methodology based on the use of multiple characters to define groups, an idea derived from Scottish-French naturalist Michel Adanson. This was a significant improvement over the original system of Linnaeus, who classified plants into families based on the number of stamens and pistils. Jussieu did keep Linnaeus' binomial nomenclature, resulting in a work that was far-reaching in its impact; many of the present-day plant families are still attributed to Jussieu. Morton's 1981 "History of botanical science" counts 76 of Jussieu's families conserved in the ICBN, versus just 11 for Linnaeus, for instance.

He was a member of the Masonic Lodge, Les Neuf Sœurs.

Works

*

References

* Duane Isely, "One hundred and one botanists" (Iowa State University Press, 1994), pp. 118-120
*1911|article=De Jussieu|url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/De_Jussieu
*CathEncy|url=http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Catholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)/De_Jussieu|title=De Jussieu

Persondata
NAME=Jussieu, Antoine Laurent de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Botanist who classified the flowering plants
DATE OF BIRTH=April 12, 1748
PLACE OF BIRTH=Lyon, France
DATE OF DEATH=September 17, 1836
PLACE OF DEATH=