Robert BrownBorn 21 Dec 1773; died 10 Jun 1858 at age 84. Scottish botanist who was an outsatanding authority on plant physiology in his day. He improved the natural classification of plants by establishing and defining new families and genera, but is best known for being the first to notice the natural continuous movement of minute particles in colloidal solution (1828), since known as Brownian movement. Later scientists recognized that this gives direct evidence of molecular motion in liquids, and links to the kinetic theory of gases. Brown distinquished (1826) between what became known as the conifers (gymnosperms) and the flowering plants (angiosperms). In living cells he recognized a structure for which he coined the name nucleus (Latin: "little nut").« |
