Research topic: John Ray

John Ray 1627-1705, English naturalist. He was extremely influential in laying the foundations of systematic biology. With his pupil Francis Willughby, he planned a complete classification of the vegetable and animal kingdoms and toured Europe collecting specimens. On Willughby's death, Ray organized and published the material left by his friend. Ray's own work—the botanical part of the project—includes the important Historia plantarum (3 vol., 1686-1704). Ray was the first to name and make the distinction between monocotyledons and dicotyledons. He was also the first to define... Read more