Title:
The wonderful Mr Willughby : the first true ornithologist / Tim Birkhead.
Author:
Birkhead, Tim, author.
Publication Information:
London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2018.
©2018
Call Number:
QL31.W58 B57 2018
Abstract:
Francis Willughby lived and thrived in the midst of the rapidly accelerating scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. Traveling with his Cambridge tutor John Ray, they decided to overhaul the whole of natural history by imposing order on its messiness and complexity. It was exhilarating, exacting, and exhausting work. Yet before their first book, Ornithology , could be completed, Willughby died in 1672. Since then, Ray's reputation has grown, obscuring that of his collaborator. Now, for the first time, Willughby's story and genius are given the attention they deserve. In his too-short life, Francis Willughby helped found the Royal Society, differentiated birds through identification of their distinguishing features, and asked questions that were, in some cases, centuries ahead of their time.
ISBN:
9781408878484
9781408878491
Physical Description:
xii, 353 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm.
Contents:
Bitten by the snake of learning -- John Ray and the cunning craftsmanship of nature -- A momentous decision -- Continental journey: the Low Countries -- Images of Central Europe -- Italian sophistication and Spanish desolation -- Back at Middleton -- Curious about birds, illness and death -- Into the light: publication -- A sustained finale: Willughby's buzzard takes flight -- Acknowledgements -- Appendix 1: A timeline of Francis Willughby's life -- Appendix 2: Brief biographies of the principal players in Willughby's life -- Appendix 3: The story of Willughby's charr -- Appendix 4: Identification of birds listed on page 61 and named in the Ornithology.
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