Robert Sibbald

Robert Sibbald
Sir Robert Sibbald.
Born	(1641-04-15)15 April 1641 Edinburgh
Died	1722 (aged 80–81)
Education	High School, Edinburgh Edinburgh University
Known for	President and founder of Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Founder of Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh First Professor of Medicine at Edinburgh University
Medical career
Profession	physician, antiquary, geographer
Institutions	President, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (1684), Edinburgh Professor of Medicine, Edinburgh University (1685)
Specialism	botanic medicine
Research	botany, medicine

Sir Robert Sibbald (15 April 1641 – August 1722) was a Scottish physician and antiquary.

Robert Sibbald was born into a prosperous landed family in Fife. His father was David Sibbald (brother of Sir James Sibbald, Bt. Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland) of Rankeillor and his mother was Margaret Boyd (January 1606 – 10 July 1672) the daughter of Robert Boyd of Kipps in West Lothian. Sibbald's family lived first in Kipps but in 1645, to escape an outbreak of the plague, moved to the Sibbald's country home in Fife. Sibbald was educated at the Royal High School and in 1659 graduated MA and began to prepare for a career in the church. His theological studies only lasted six months before shifting his attention to medicine.

In March 1660, Sibbald set off to study at the University of Leiden. There he learned anatomy, surgery, botany, chemistry, and natural philosophy. Shortly after arriving in Leiden, Sibbald's father died and he was obliged to cut his medical studies short owing to financial strain. After only 18 months in Leiden, Sibbald moved to Paris to study for nine months. There he presented himself to be examined for 'his patent as Doctor' at Angers where fees were lower than Leiden. After graduating in 1662, he spent three months in London where he met Sir Robert Moray, president of the Royal Society.

Upon returning to Scotland, Sibbald set out to recreate the institutions he had encountered in Europe. Without such institutions, Sibbald believed Scotland would never be fit to take its place amongst the modern nations of Europe. He was a physician by profession and thus focused his attentions on founding institutions for the advancement of medicine.

In 1685 he was appointed the first professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He was also appointed Geographer Royal in 1682, and his numerous and miscellaneous writings deal with historical, antiquarian, botanical and medical subjects. He based many of his cartographical studies on the work of Timothy Pont. Sibbald and his cousin, Andrew Balfour, were key figures in the creation of the Edinburgh Pharmacopoeia.

The wild flower Sibbaldia procumbens is named after him.