Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle

Who was Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle?

Alphonse Louis Pierre Pyrame de Candolle was a French-Swiss botanist, the son of the Swiss botanist A. P. de Candolle.

He first devoted himself to the study of law, but gradually drifted to botany and finally succeeded to his father's chair at the University of Geneva. He published a number of botanical works, including continuations of the Prodromus in collaboration with his son, Anne Casimir Pyrame de Candolle. Among his other contributions is the formulation, based on his father's work for the Prodromus, of the first Laws of Botanical Nomenclature, which was adopted by the International Botanical Congress in 1867, and was the prototype of the current ICN.

He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1859 and was awarded the Linnean Medal of the Linnean Society of London in 1889. He is also known for a study of the religious affiliations of foreign members of the French and British Academies of Science during the Scientific Revolution that demonstrated that in both academies Protestants were more heavily represented than Catholics by comparison with catchment populations. This observation continues to be used as a demonstration that Protestants were more inclined to be scientifically active during the Scientific Revolution than Roman Catholics.