William Turner (naturalist)

William Turner ( * 1510 in Morpeth, Northumberland, † July 7 1568 in London ) was an English naturalist.

Life

His work avium praecipuarum, quarum apud Plinium et Aristotelem mentio est, brevis et succincta historia (Cologne, 1544) is the first printed book, which is devoted exclusively to birds. He describes not only the species that have already been mentioned by Aristotle and Pliny, but other species, which he himself has observed.

1903 published the Publisher Cambridge University Press evaluating his work under the title of Turner on Birds, a short and succinct history of the principal birds Noted by Pliny and Aristotle. It contains his original text and the translation into modern English. This copy and the original is to be found in the Hill Collection at Cornell University.

Ehrentaxon

Charles Plumier named in his honor the genus Turnera the plant family of Safranmalvengewächse ( Turneraceae ). Linnaeus later took the name.