Robert Brown

On June 10, 1858, the world saw the last of this exceptional botanist, when he passed away in Soho Square. He was interred in London's 'Kensal Green Cemetery'.

Many plant species have been named after this brilliant botanist, including Brunonia, Tetrodontium brownianum, and Eucalyptus brownii.

This Scottish botanist is the eponym of the Brown River in Tasmania, Mount Brown in Canada, and Point Brown in South Australia.

Robert Brown was born to James Brown and his wife Helen on December 21, 1773, in Montrose, a coastal town in Scotland. James was an important member of the ‘Scottish Episcopal Church’, while his wife was the daughter of a priest.

The young boy was initially schooled at what is now known as the ‘Montrose Academy’. Upon completion of his primary education, he was enrolled at Aberdeen's 'Marischal College'. However he was forced to drop out when they decided to settle down in Edinburgh.

After his father's death, Robert joined the ‘University of Edinburgh’with the intention of becoming a doctor. However, his interests soon shifted to botany, and it seemed that the young man had finally found his calling.

As a botany enthusiast, it was the teachings and works of William Withering, John Walker, and George Don, that influenced him the most. Brown went on to discover the ‘Alopecurusalpinus’, a type of grass. Also, his first thesis, 'The botanical history of Angus', which was printed posthumously, became a favourite with the 'Edinburgh Natural History Society'.

After quitting medical school, Robert started serving at the ‘Fifeshire Fencibles’ regiment in 1974. A year later, he was hired by the Royal Navy as assistant to the head surgeon in Ireland. Since his new job allowed him a lot of free time, the budding botanist ensured he employed it to increase his knowledge of plants.

Soon he decided to conduct an extensive study on mosses and other similar cryptogams, in collaboration with fellow botanist James Dickson. Robert's research was so remarkable that Dickson decided to publish the former's findings in his book 'Fasciculi Plantarum Cryptogamicarum Britanniae'.

Within the year 1800, Brown's efforts had paid off, and he was starting to gain recognition in Ireland as a botanist. He was considered as a major contender to the likes of José Correia da Serra, Withering, and James Dickson.

He had also been recommended for a membership to the prestigious ‘Linnean Society of London’, which specialized in the study of natural history. As a special recognition, botanist Lewis Weston Dillwyn named the ‘Conferva Brownii’, a type of algae, after Robert.

The same year, he was invited by English botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, to be a part of an expedition to New Holland (what we know as Australia in present times), as a replacement for explorer, Mungo Park. Since this had been his dream since two years, a post that he had initially been rejected for, Brown readily took up the offer.

When Robert Brown was probing into the characteristics of a plant called Clarkia pulchella, he observed the microscopic pollen grains that had been submerged in water. The botanist found tiny particles that had been discharged by the pollens, moving around in a random motion. He repeated this experiment, this time using particles that made up inorganic matter. The same was observed, and hence he inferred that the phenomenon, now famous as the ‘Brownian motion’, was not unique to living organisms.