John Ray
John Ray (November 29, 1627 - January 17, 1705) was an English naturalist.
Ray was born in the village of Black Notley, near Braintree, in the county of Essex, in the south east of England. He is said to have been born in the smithy, his father having been the local blacksmith.
He published important works on plants, animals, and natural theology. His classification of plants in his Historia Plantarum was an important step towards modern taxonomy. Ray rejected the system of dichotomous division by which species were classified according to a pre-conceived, either/or type system, and instead classified plants according to similarities and differences that emerged from observation. Thus he advanced scientific empiricism against the deductive rationalism of the scholastics.
In 1986, to mark the 300th anniversary of the publication of Rays Historia Plantarum, there was a celebration of Rays legacy in Braintree. A "John Ray Gallery" was opened in Braintree Museum. The curator of this is Leslie Killin.
- John Ray Gallery
- Causeway House
- Bocking End
- Braintree
- CM7 6HB
Referenced By
1627 | 1627 in science | 1682 in science | 1705 | 1705 in science | Bibliotheca Abscondita | Biological classification | Biological family | Biological order | Braintree, England | Braintree, Essex | Braintree and Bocking | Class (biology) | Divison (biology) | Famila (biology) | Families | Families (biology) | Family (biology) | Formic acid | Francis Willughby | Hans Sloane | Ichthyologist | Ichthyology | Infraclass | Infraorder (biology) | John (name) | Library of Sir Thomas Browne | List of people by name: Ra | Michel Adanson | Musaeum Clausum | Order (biology) | Orders (biology) | Phyla | Phylum | Scientific classification | Section (biology) | Series (biology) | Sir Hans Sloane | Sir Thomas Browne's library | SubFamily (biology) | Subclass (biology) | Subfamilies | Subfamily | Subkingdom | Subkingdom (biology) | Suborder | Suborder (biology) | Subphylum | Subphylum (biology) | Superfamily | Timeline of ornithology | Tribe (biology) | Trinity College, Cambridge | Trinity College (Cambridge) | University of Cambridge/Trinity College | William Paley
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