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THURET, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE (1817-1875)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 899 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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THURET, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE (1817-1875) , See also:French botanist, was See also:born in See also:Paris on: the 23rd of May 1817. He came of an old Huguenot See also:family, which had sought See also:refuge for a See also:time in See also:Holland after the revocation of the See also:Edict of See also:Nantes. A trace of Dutch See also:influence still persists in the See also:pronunciation of the family name in which the final t is sounded. Thuret's See also:mother was brought up in See also:England; See also:English was the first See also:language that he learnt, and he appears to have retained strong sympathies with See also:Great See also:Britain throughout See also:life. As a See also:young See also:man he studiedfor the See also:law; in his leisure time he was an ardent musician, and it was from a musical friend, de Villers, that he received, in 1837, his first See also:initiation into See also:botany. Beginning simply as a See also:collector, he soon came under the influence of See also:Joseph Decaisne (1809-1882), whose See also:pupil he became. It was Decaisne who first encouraged him to undertake those algological studies which were to become the See also:chief See also:work of his life. Thuret twice visited See also:Constantinople in See also:company with the French See also:ambassador, M. de Pontois, and was for a time attache to the French See also:embassy there. His See also:diplomatic career, though of See also:short duration, gave him a valuable opportunity of studying the See also:Oriental See also:flora. After travelling in See also:Syria and See also:Egypt in the autumn of 1841, he returned to See also:France. Giving up his intention of entering the See also:civil service, he retired to his See also:father's See also:country See also:house at Rentilly, and thenceforth devoted himself to scientific See also:research. He had already, in 184o, published his first scientific See also:paper, " Notes sur 1'anthere de Chara et See also:les animalcules qu'elle renferme," in which he first accurately described the See also:organs of See also:motion of the " animalcules " or spermatozoids of these See also:plants.

He continued his studies of the zoos-pores and male cells of See also:

Algae and other Cryptogams, and our exact knowledge of these remarkable motile stages in See also:vegetable life is largely due to his labours. He spent a great See also:part of his time, up to 1857, on the See also:Atlantic See also:coast of France, assiduously observing the marine Algae in their natural See also:habitat and at all seasons. In See also:conjunction with his friend Edouard Bornet, he became the, recognized authority on this important See also:group of plants, of which the two colleagues acquired an unrivalled knowledge. Their work, while remarkable for taxonomic accuracy, was more especially concentrated on the natural See also:history, development and modes of See also:reproduction of the plants investigated. The See also:discovery of sexual reproduction in seaweeds is almost wholly the work of these two men. The researches on the fecundation of the Fucaceae were published by Thuret in 1853 and 1855; the complicated and difficult question of the sexual reproduction in Floridae was solved by the See also:joint work of Thuret and Bornet (1867). These great discoveries--of, far-reaching biological significance—stand out as the chief, but every group of marine Algae was elucidated by the researches of Thuret and his colleague. There are few scientific authors whose work has so completely stood the test of subsequent investigation and See also:criticism. Thuret's See also:style in expounding his results was singularly clear and concise; he was a man of wide See also:education, and possessed the See also:power of expressing his ideas with See also:literary skill. Unfortunately, much of his best work remained unpublished during his life. A portion of the material accumulated by himself and his colleague was embodied in two magnificent See also:works published after his See also:death—the Notes algologiques (1876-188o), and the still finer Etudes phycologiques (1878). These volumes, as well as earlier See also:memoirs, are illustrated by drawings of unequalled accuracy and beauty from the See also:hand of the artist Riocreux, whom Thuret employed.

In 18$7 Thuret removed to See also:

Antibes on the Mediterranean coast, where, on a once barren promontory, he established a botanic See also:garden which became famous throughout the scientific See also:world. Since his death the Antibes See also:establishment has been placed at the disposal of botanical workers as an See also:institute for research. Thuret died suddenly, while on a visit to See also:Nice, on the loth of May 1875, when he had scarcely completed his fifty-eighth See also:year. He was a man of considerable See also:wealth, who devoted his See also:money as freely as his time and labour to the See also:advancement of See also:science, but his high reputation rests on the brilliancy of his See also:personal investigations. The best and fullest See also:account of Thuret's career is that by his friend and See also:fellow worker Bornet, published in the Annales See also:des sciences naturelles for 1876. An English See also:notice of his life, by See also:Professor W. G. Farlow, will be found in the See also:Journal of Botany for the same year. (D. H.

End of Article: THURET, GUSTAVE ADOLPHE (1817-1875)

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