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Mathurin Jacques Brisson

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French zoologist and natural philosopher
Mathurin Jacques Brisson
Born(1723-04-30)30 April 1723
Died23 June 1806(1806-06-23) (aged 83)
Known forOrnithologie
AwardsAcademy of Sciences
Scientific career
FieldsZoology, ornithology, entomology
InstitutionsCollege of Navarre, Paris
Author abbrev. (botany)Briss.
Author abbrev. (zoology)Brisson

Mathurin Jacques Brisson (French pronunciation: [matyRe Zak bRiso]; 30 April 1723 - 23 June 1806) was a French zoologist and natural philosopher.

Brisson was born on 30 April 1723 at Fontenay-le-Comte in the Vendee department of western France.[1] His parents wished him to take ecclesiastic orders, but in 1747, he abandoned his studies,[2][3] and from 1749,[3] was employed by the wealthy French naturalist Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur as the curator of a large private collection of objects related to natural history that de Reaumur kept at his ancestral home at Reaumur in the Vendee.[4]

Brisson became interested in the classification of animals and was influenced by the works of Carl Linnaeus and Jacob Theodor Klein.[4] His book Le Regne animal was published in 1756,[5] and the highly regarded six-volume work Ornithologie was published in 1760.[6]

The English ornithologist Alfred Newton wrote of Brisson's Ornithologie that it was "a work of very great merit so far as it goes, for as a descriptive ornithologist the author stands even now unsurpassed; ...".[7] For each species Brisson clearly indicated whether he had examined a specimen or whether he was relying on descriptions by other authors.[7] Although in Brisson coined a Latin name for each bird species, these do not conform to the binomial system and are not recognised by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN).[8] However, Brisson also introduced names for genera and these are accepted by the ICZN.[9][10][11] Linnaeus relied heavily on Brisson's work when updating his Systema Naturae for the twelfth edition in 1766. Linnaeus added 386 bird species of which 240 were based exclusively on Brisson.[8]

De Reaumur died in 1757 and although in his will he left his large collection to the French Academy of Sciences, it was instead absorbed into the "Cabinet du roi", the royal natural history collection in Paris.[12] Brisson abandoned zoology and in 1762 succeeded Jean-Antoine Nollet as professor of physics at the College of Navarre in Paris.[4]

For a period of time, Brisson was an instructor of physical sciences and natural history to the family of the monarch.[1] From 1759, he was a member of the Academy of Sciences.[13]

A significant work involving the "specific weight of bodies" was his Pesanteur Specifique des Corps published in 1787.[14] In his investigations of electricity, Brisson was opposed to the theories of Priestley and Franklin.[15]

He married Marie-Denise Foliot de Foucherolles on 24 April 1775. They had three children.[13] He died on 23 June 1806 at Magny-les-Hameaux near Versailles.

Publications

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References

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  1. ^ a b Swainson, William (1840). Taxidermy : bibliography and biography. Vol. -. London: Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans. pp. 139-141. Note that page 141 is before page 140.
  2. ^ Birembaut, Arthur (1958). "Les liens de famille entre Reaumur et Brisson, son dernier eleve". Revue d'Histoire des Sciences et de Leurs Applications. 11 (2): 167-169. doi:10.3406/rhs.1958.4400.
  3. ^ a b Merland, Constant (1883). "Mathurin-Jacques Brisson". Biographies vendeennes (in French). Vol. 2. Nantes, France: Vincent Forest & Emile Grimaud. pp. 1-47.
  4. ^ a b c Stresemann, Erwin (1975). Cottrell, G. William (ed.). Ornithology From Aristotle to the Present. Translated by Epstein, Hans J.; Epstein, Cathleen. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. pp. 53-54. ISBN 978-0-674-64485-4. Originally published by F. W. Peters in 1951 as Die Entwicklung Der Ornithologie von Aristoteles bis zur Gegenwart.
  5. ^ Brisson 1756.
  6. ^ Brisson 1760.
  7. ^ a b Newton, Alfred (1893-1896). A Dictionary of Birds. London: Adam and Charles Black. p. 9.
  8. ^ a b Allen, J.A. (1910). "Collation of Brisson's genera of birds with those of Linnaeus". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. 28: 317-335. hdl:2246/678.
  9. ^ Hemming, Francis, ed. (1958) [1911]. "Opinion 37: Shall the genera of Brisson's "Ornithologia," 1760, be accepted". Opinions and Declarations Rendered by the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature. Vol. 1 Section B. London: International Trust for Zoological Nomenclature. pp. 87-88.
  10. ^ Hemming, Francis (1962). "Brisson, 1760 "Ornithologie" Proposed restriction on validation granted under the plenary powers to certain portions of that work Z.N.(S.) 702". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 19 (1): 9-14.
  11. ^ China, W.E. (1963). "Direction 105: Brisson, 1760, Ornithologie: restriction to certain portions of that work of the validation granted under the Plenary Powers". Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature. 20 (5): 343-344.
  12. ^ Bruce, Murray (2003). "Foreword: A brief history of classifying birds". In del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Christie, D.A. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World. Vol. 8: Broadbills to Tapaculos. Barcelona: Lynx Edicions. pp. 11-43 [18]. ISBN 978-84-87334-50-4.
  13. ^ a b Beauchet-Filleau, H.; Beauchet-Filleau, P. (1895). Dictionnaire historique et genealogique des familles du Poitou (in French). Vol. 2. Poitiers, France: Oudin. p. 6.
  14. ^ Brisson 1787.
  15. ^ Knight, Charles, ed. (1856). The English Cyclopaedia: A New Dictionary of Universal Knowledge. London: Bradbury & Evans. p. 923.
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