Pierre Belon

Biography
1517 - 1564

About the artist

Pierre Belon (1517, near Le Mans – 1564, Paris) was a French naturalist. He studied at the university of Wittenberg (1540). He travelled, as a member of the French embassy to the Ottaman Empire, in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria from 1546 to 1549. He examined during this journey animals, plants, customs and ruins. In his book Les Observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses mémorables (1553, Observations of several curiosities and objects) he described his findings, often unknown to Europeans. Many scientists were inspired by this book and followed Belon’s itinerary. In two other books L’Histoire naturelle des éstranges poissons marins (1551, Natural history of unusual fishes) and L’Histoire de la nature des oyseaux (1555, Natural history of birds) he made many original observations. His study of dolphin embryo’s and his comparisons of the skeletons of birds and humans are the beginnings of modern embryology and comparative anatomy. Belon was murdered by unknown persons in Bois de Boulogne.

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