Aimé Bonpland | |
---|---|
Born | August 1773 La Rochelle, France |
Died | May 1858 Paso de los Libres, Argentina |
(aged 84)
Nationality | French |
Alma mater | University of Paris |
Known for | Travel with Alexander von Humboldt |
Awards | French Academy of Sciences |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physician, biologist, botanist, natural history |
Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (August 1773 – May 1858) was a French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scientific results of their expedition.
The standard author abbreviation Bonpl. is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.
Bonpland was born as Aimé Jacques Alexandre Goujaud in La Rochelle, France, on 22, 28, or 29 August 1773. His father was a physician and, around 1790, he joined his brother Michael in Paris, where they both studied medicine. From 1791, they attended courses given at Paris's Botanical Museum of Natural History. Their teachers included Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, and René Louiche Desfontaines; Aimé further studied under Jean-Nicolas Corvisart and may have attended classes given by Pierre Joseph Desault at the Hôtel-Dieu. During this period, Aimé also befriended his fellow student, Marie François Xavier Bichat.
Amid the turmoil of the French Revolution and Revolutionary Wars, Bonpland served as a surgeon in the French army or navy.