Auguste Chevalier facts for kids

Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier (born June 1873 in Domfront, France – died June 1956 in Paris) was a famous French botanist and explorer. He spent a lot of time exploring tropical Africa, especially areas that were part of the French colonial empire, like Côte d'Ivoire. He also traveled to South America and tropical Asia to collect and study plants.

Chevalier greatly increased our knowledge of African plants. He studied many different types, including forest trees, their wood, grasses, and plants used for farming. What made him special was that he also explored the plant life in the Sahara Desert, which many other botanists didn't do.

In 1896, Auguste Chevalier earned his degree in natural sciences. Later, in 1901, he received his PhD from the University of Lille. While at Lille, he worked as an assistant to another botanist named Charles Eugene Bertrand.

Chevalier was very active in his field. From 1899 to 1900, he was part of a science trip to French Sudan. In 1905, he helped create a botanical garden in Dalaba, French Guinea. Between 1913 and 1919, he collected plants across Indochina. He later became a professor in Paris in 1929.

In 1937, he was chosen to be a member of the French Academy of Sciences, a very important group of scientists. He even served as its president in 1953. He was also a member of other important groups, like the Académie des sciences d'outre-mer (from 1922) and the Société botanique de France, where he was president in 1929.

In 1921, he started a scientific journal called Revue de Botanique appliquée et d'Agriculture coloniale. To honor his contributions to botany, several plant groups were named after him, including Chevalierella, Chevalierodendron, Neochevaliera, and Neochevalierodendron.

Selected writings

Auguste Chevalier wrote many books and reports about his discoveries. Here are some of them:

• Sur l'existence probable d'une mer récente dans la région de Tombouctou, 1901 – This book was about the idea that there might have been a recent sea near Timbuktu.
• Rapport sur une mission scientifique et économique au Chari-lac-Tchad, 1905 – A report about a science and economic trip to the Chari and Lake Chad area.
• La forêt vierge de la Côte d'Ivoire, 1908 – This described the untouched forests of the Ivory Coast.
• Mission Chari-Lac Tchad, 1902-1904: L'Afrique Centrale Française, 1908 – More about his trip to the Chari-Lake Chad region and French central Africa.
• Le Pays des Hollis et les régions voisines: Mission scientifique de l'Afrique occidentale française, 1910 – About the Hollis region and nearby areas, from a science trip to French West Africa.
• La forét et les bois du Gabon, 1917 – Focused on the forests and wood of Gabon.
• La forêt du Brésil, 1929 – About the forests of Brazil.
• Les iles du Cap Vert : flore de l'Archipel, 1935 – Described the plants found on the islands of Cape Verde.
• L'agriculture coloniale : origines et évolutions, 1949 – Explored the history and changes in farming in colonial areas.
• Octave Lignier, professeur de botanique à la Faculté des sciences de l'Université de Caen... (1855-1916). Notice biographique – A biography of Octave Lignier, a botany professor.

See also

• In Spanish: Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier para niños