Pierre Magnol

Pierre Magnol (June 8, 1638 – May 21, 1715) was a French botanist. He was born in the city of Montpellier, where he lived and worked for most of his life. He became Professor of Botany and Director of the Royal Botanic Garden of Montpellier and held a seat in the Académie Royale des Sciences de Paris for a short while. He was one of the innovators who devised the botanical scheme of classification. He was the first to publish the concept of plant families as they are understood today, a natural classification of groups of plants that have features in common.

Pierre Magnol was born into a family of apothecaries (pharmacists). His father Claude ran a pharmacy as did his grandfather Jean Magnol. Pierre's mother was from a family of physicians. Pierre's older brother Cesar succeeded his father in the pharmacy. Pierre, being one of the younger children, had more freedom to choose his own profession, and wanted to become a physician. He had become devoted to natural history and especially botany at an early stage in his life, which might be regarded as self-evident for a son of a pharmacist. In Magnol's days, the study of botany and medicine were inseparable. Thus he enrolled as a student in medicine at the University of Montpellier on May 19, 1655.

Montpellier is an old city, and in Magnol's days it had already been an important commercial and educational centre for several ages. The University of Montpellier was officially founded in 1289 (though it is said to be older) and it was the first French university to establish a botanic garden, donated in 1593 by Henry IV of France, for the study of medicine and pharmacology. Its medical school attracted students from all over Europe. Individuals well-known in medicine and botany such as Leonhart Fuchs (1501–1566), Guillaume Rondelet (1507–1566), Charles de l'Ecluse (1526–1609), Pierre Richer de Belleval (c. 1564-1632), and the great writer (and doctor) François Rabelais (c. 1493-1553), all studied at this university. So it was in one of the intellectual and botanical capitals that Magnol took his education. He got his doctor's degree (M.D.) on January 11, 1659. After receiving his degree, his attention once again shifted to botany, this time even more seriously.

...
Wikipedia