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William Baird (physician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Baird FRS FLS (11 January 1803, in Eccles, Berwickshire – 27 January 1872) was a Scottish physician and zoologist best known for his 1850 work, The Natural History of the British Entomostraca.

Biography

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Baird studied at the High School of Edinburgh, before studying medicine at the universities of Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris.[1] He was a surgeon for the East India Company from 1823 to 1833, travelling to India, China and other countries, and taking a keen interest in those countries' natural history.[1] He helped found the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club in 1829, and contributed regularly to its publications.[1] Baird practised as a doctor in London until 1841, when he joined the zoology department of the British Museum (now part of the Natural History Museum).[1] He is buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery, London.

Work

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Baird's most important work, The Natural History of the British Entomostraca, was published by the Ray Society in 1850.[1] He published many other papers on diverse topics, and in 1858 he published a popular Cyclopædia of the Natural Sciences.[1] He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a member of the Imperial and Royal Botanical Society of Vienna and a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g Anonymous (1871). "Obituary Notices of Fellows Deceased". Proceedings of the Royal Society. 20 (130–138): i–xxxiv. doi:10.1098/rspl.1871.0003. S2CID 186213563.
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