Georg Marcgrave (originallyGerman:Georg Marggraf, also spelled"Marcgraf" "Markgraf") (1610 – 1644) was a German naturalist and astronomer, whose posthumously publishedHistoria Naturalis Brasiliae was a major contribution to early modern science.[1]
Born inLiebstadt in theElectorate of Saxony, Marcgrave studiedbotany,astronomy,mathematics, andmedicine inGermany andSwitzerland until 1636 when he journeyed toLeiden in theNetherlands.
In 1637, he was appointed astronomer of a company being formed to sail to theDutch Brazil. He was accompanied byWillem Piso, a physician. He afterward entered the service of Dutch Brazil's governor,Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, whose patronage provided him with the means of exploring a considerable part of Brazil.[2] He arrived in Brazil in early 1638 and undertook the first zoological, botanical, and astronomical expedition there, exploring various parts of the colony to study its natural history and geography. Traveling later to the coast ofGuinea, he fell a victim to the climate.[2]
His large map of Brazil, an important event incartography, was published in 1647. According toCuvier, Marcgrave was the most able and most precise of all those who described the natural history of remote countries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
He was the co-author (withWillem Piso) ofHistoria Naturalis Brasiliae,[3] a single volume work on the botany and zoology ofBrazil, that has had lasting influence in thehistory of science.
