What did robert brown discovered in 1831

 

Robert Brown, FRS, lived from 21 December to 10 June He was a botanist best known for his work in Australia, and he was also one of the first to observe the phenomenon since called Brownian motion.

The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Robert Brown was born in Montrose. After being schooled locally he went on to become a medical student at the University of Edinburgh, where fellow students included Thomas Dick and Robert Jameson.

In he joined the army as a surgeon, and in volunteered to serve as the naturalist on board HMS Investigator during the circumnavigation of Australia by Captain Matthew Flinders, RN. The expedition arrived off what is now Western Australia in December Over the next two and a half years Brown collected some species of plants, of which around were previously unknown.

Much of the collection was lost when the ship on w