Daniel Solander

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Daniel Carlsson Solander (February 19, 1733 – May 16, 1782) was a Swedish botanist.

Solander was born in Piteå, Sweden and was the son of a Lutheran rector. He studied under Carolus Linnaeus at Uppsala University and traveled to England in 1760 to promote Linnaeus' new system of classification. He was an assistant librarian at the British Museum from 1763 onwards, and elected as Fellow of the Royal Society in the following year. Afterwards he held the position of Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum.

In 1768 Solander and his Finnish fellow scientist Dr. Herman Spöring were employed by Joseph Banks, to join him on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific Ocean on board the Endeavour. They were the botanists who inspired the name Botanist Bay (which later became Botany Bay), Cook's expedition's first landing place in Australia. Solander helped make and describe an important collection of Australian plants while the Endeavour was beached at the site of present-day Cooktown for nearly 7 weeks, after being damaged on the Great Barrier Reef. These collections later formed the basis of Banks' Florilegium.

On their return in 1771 he became Banks' secretary and librarian and lived in his house at Soho Square. In 1772 he accompanied Banks on his voyage to Iceland, the Faroes and the Orkney Islands. Between 1773 and 1782 he was Keeper of the Natural History Department of the British Museum.

Solander invented the book-form box known as the Solander box which is still used in libraries and archives as the most suitable way of storing prints, drawings, herbarium materials and some manuscripts.

He died at Banks' home in Soho Square of an illness, aged 49.

Solander Gardens in the east end of London is named after him, as is Solander Island off the South Island of New Zealand. One of the many plants named in his honour is Nothofagus solandri.

The standard author abbreviation Sol. may be used to indicate this person in citing a botanical name.

[edit] References

Duyker, Edward. 1998. Nature's Argonaut: Daniel Solander 1733-1782: Naturalist and Voyager with Cook and Banks. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0-522-84753-6
Royal Society Archive entry on Solander