Antoine Laurent de Jussieu | |
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 Sketch portrait, probably byJules Pizzetta. | |
| Born | (1748-04-12)12 April 1748 |
| Died | 17 September 1836(1836-09-17) (aged 88) |
| Known for | Classification offlowering plants |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Botany |
| Institutions | Jardin des Plantes,Muséum national d'histoire naturelle |
| Author abbrev. (botany) | Juss. |
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Antoine Laurent de Jussieu (French pronunciation:[ɑ̃twanloʁɑ̃dəʒysjø]; 12 April 1748 – 17 September 1836) was a Frenchbotanist, notable as the first to publish a natural classification offlowering plants; much of his system remains in use today. His classification was based on an extended unpublished work by his uncle, the botanistBernard de Jussieu.
Jussieu was born inLyon, France, in 1748, as one of 10 children, to Christophle de Jussieu, an amateurbotanist.[1] His father's three younger brothers were also botanists. He went toParis in 1765 to be with his uncleBernard and to studymedicine, graduating with adoctorate in 1770, with a thesis on animal and vegetable physiology.[2] His uncle introduced him to theJardin du Roi, where he was appointed as a botanyDemonstrator and deputy toL. G. Le Monnier, professor of botany there in 1770.[3] Le Monnier had succeeded Antoine-Laurent's uncle Antoine in 1759. Lectures by eminent botanists, including the Jusssieu dynasty were popular there, especially among pharmacists.[4] His lecture on the classification ofRanunculaceae in 1773[2] to theAcadémie des Sciences led to his election as a member that year.[5] In 1784 he was appointed to a Royal Commission byLouis XVI, as one of five commissionaires to investigateanimal magnetism, publishing a dissenting opinion from the majority,[6] suggesting further investigation was required.[7]
The publication of Jussieu'sGenera plantarum in 1789 was rapidly followed by the outbreak of theFrench Revolution (1789–1799). Jussieu adhered to the revolutionary principles and was appointed to a position in the municipal government of Paris, where he had the task of managing all the hospitals. With the overthrow of the monarchy, the Jardin du Roi was renamed the Jardin des plantes, and Jussieu was instrumental in reorganizing the Jardin as theMuséum national d'histoire naturelle in 1790, where he became a professor of botany, holding thechair in Botanique à la campagne. He was also Director of the museum from 1794 to 1795, and again from 1798 to 1800.[8] Jussieu immediately set about setting up aherbarium, a task greatly facilitated by the seizure of foreign collections by the revolutionary armies, and by the confiscation of the assets of the church and aristocracy.[9][3] In 1808,Napoleon appointed him to the position of counsellor of the university.[5]
He remained at the museum until 1826, when he was succeeded by his sonAdrien-Henri.[9] At the museum he published many papers in the museum's annals (Annales du Museum d’histoire naturelle 1802–1813)[10] and its succeedingMémoires du Muséum d'histoire naturelle (1815–), as well as contributing articles toFrederic Cuvier'sDictionnaire des sciences naturelles (1816–1830).[11][3] He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge,Les Neuf Sœurs.
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Jussieu's system ofplant classification, based on the relative value of their characteristics, served as the basis for natural systems of taxonomy. His system was first published in a paper onRanunculaceae in 1773.[12] The following year he developed the concept further in a paper on the arrangement of plants in the Jardin de Roi, based on the work of his uncle Bernard at theTrianon garden in Versaille. The work dealt primarily with suprafamilial ranks of classification.[13] The following five years were devoted to applying his ideas to the entire plant kingdom, culminating in his epochal work, theGenera plantarum (1789).[14] In preparing this work he had access to a large number ofherbaria andbotanical gardens. Although at first British and German botanists, firm adherents of the Linnaean system, were wary of what they considered radical ideas emanating from the French revolution,[5] the work soon gained wide acceptance in scientific circles, and was actively promoted by eminent botanists includingRobert Brown andA. P. de Candolle.[9][3]
In theGenera plantarum (1789), Jussieu adopted a methodology based on the use of multiple characters to define groups, an idea derived from naturalistMichel Adanson. This was a significant improvement over the "artificial" system ofLinnaeus, whose most popular work classified plants into classes and orders based on the number ofstamens andpistils, though Jussieu did keep Linnaeus'binomial nomenclature. He extended his uncle's ideas about the value of the characteristics of plants. These characteristics were considered to be of unequal value, with some subordinate to others in a hierarchical system. As Jusssieu put it, plant characteristics should bepesés et non comptés (weighed, not counted), in assigning each to a definite group. The names he gave to his uncle's three major groupings were Acotyledon, Monocotyledon, and Dicotyledon. These were then divided into fifteen classes and one hundred families.[5] The most important features of theGenera plantarum are the division into groups and the description and circumscription of the 100 families (ordines naturales).[15] With the resumption of his scientific work at the museum, Jussieu's publications (some 60 memoirs)[16] largely dealt with further elaborating the principles of theGenera plantarum and more detailed circumscription and description of the families he had named, work that was very much influenced byJoseph Gärtner.[5][3] Although he worked on a second edition ofGenera plantarum, all that was published was hisIntroductio,[17] posthumously in 1837.[5]
Sources:Flourens (1840, p. lvii);Pritzel (1872);Royal Society (1800–1900)Stafleu & Cowan (1979)
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Member of the French Académie des Sciences (1773), elected foreign member of theRoyal Swedish Academy of Sciences (1788).
Jussieu's "natural" system of classification soon replaced the artificial sexual one of Linnaeus.[18] The system of suprageneric nomenclature in botany is officially dated to 4 Aug 1789 with the publication of theGenera Plantarum (Gen. Pl.).[19] TheGenera plantarum was far-reaching in its impact; many of the present-day plantfamilies are still attributed to Jussieu. Morton's 1981History of botanical science counts 76 of Jussieu's families conserved in theICBN, versus just 11 for Linnaeus, for instance. Writing of the natural system,Sydney Howard Vines remarked:
"The glory of this crowning achievement belongs to Jussieu: he was the capable man who appeared precisely at the psychological moment, and it is the men that so appear who have made, and will continue to make, all the great generalisations of science."[20]
De Jussieu and his family have been commemorated by a number of images, including a bust and medallion byDavid d'Angers (Pierre-Jean David), upon his death. A statue of Jussieu, commissioned for 10,000 Fr byJean-François Legendre-Héral in 1842, stands in the Galerie de Botanique of the Jardin des Plantes. Another, byJean-Baptiste Gustave Deloye is on thebalustrade of theNatural History Museum, Vienna (facingMaria-Theresien-Platz).[21] The Jussieu botanical dynasty is commemorated in the neighbourhood of the Jardin des Plantes by the Place Jussieu, (Quartier Saint-Victor,5th arrondissement) Rue Jussieu, theJussieu metro station and theJussieu science campus of the University of Paris.[a] The Jussieu family are also commemorated by street names inMarseille andLyon, their family home. TheJussieu Peninsula in South Australia is also named after Antoine Laurent Jussieu, as is anasteroid.
