Georg Marcgrave

Georg Marcgrave (originally German: Georg Marggraf, also spelled "Marcgraf" "Markgraf") (1610 – 1644) was a German naturalist and astronomer, whose posthumously published Historia Naturalis Brasiliae was a major contribution to early modern science.

[1] Born in Liebstadt in the Electorate of Saxony, Marcgrave studied botany, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine in Germany and Switzerland until 1636 when he journeyed to Leiden in the Netherlands.

[2] He arrived in Brazil in early 1638 and undertook the first zoological, botanical, and astronomical expedition there, exploring various parts of the colony to study its natural history and geography.

According to Cuvier, Marcgrave was the most able and most precise of all those who described the natural history of remote countries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

He was the co-author (with Willem Piso) of Historia Naturalis Brasiliae,[3] a single volume work on the botany and zoology of Brazil, that has had lasting influence in the history of science.