Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major facts for kids

Charles Immanuel Forsyth Major was a very smart scientist. He was born in Scotland in 1843. He became a doctor, a zoologist (someone who studies animals), and a vertebrate palaeontologist (someone who studies ancient animals with backbones, like dinosaurs or ancient mammals). He was Swiss, but lived in many countries.

Charles Major's Early Life and Studies

Charles Major studied at several universities. He went to Basel and Zurich in Switzerland. He also studied in Göttingen, Germany. In 1868, he finished his medical studies in Basel. After that, he became a doctor in Florence, Italy.

A Passion for Ancient Animals

Like many scientists of his time, Charles Major spent his free time studying fossils. Fossils are the preserved remains of ancient life. He was especially interested in ancient mammals. His very first scientific paper, published in 1872, was about fossil primates. Primates are a group of mammals that includes monkeys, apes, and humans.

In 1877, the Italian government supported his work. This allowed him to collect many fossils. He found these fossils in different parts of Italy. He collected from Calabria, Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily.

Focusing on Fossils Full-Time

By 1886, Charles Major decided to stop working as a doctor. He wanted to focus all his time on studying fossils. He then traveled to the Greek Archipelago. This is a group of islands in Greece. He collected more fossils there. His collections were sent to museums. Some went to the College Galliard in Lausanne. Others went to the British Museum (Natural History) in London.

At the British Museum, he became very interested in fossils from Madagascar. This large island is off the coast of Africa. He studied lemurs, which are unique animals found only in Madagascar. He looked at both living lemurs and those that were extinct (no longer alive).

Discoveries in Madagascar

Charles Major made exciting discoveries about lemurs. He found a new family of lemurs called Megaladapidae. He also discovered a new genus and species. This was the giant lemur Megaladapis madagascariensis. This huge lemur is now extinct. He also found five new species of smaller lemurs. These belonged to the groups Lepilemur and Cheirogaleus.

His discoveries made him even more curious about Madagascar. He decided to plan an expedition there. An expedition is a journey taken for a specific purpose, like scientific research.

The Madagascar Expedition

The Royal Society helped fund Charles Major's trip. The Royal Society is a famous scientific group in Britain. Other important people also helped pay for the expedition. These included Lionel Walter Rothschild, F. DuCane Godman, and Sir Henry Peek. Charles Major also contributed his own money.

The expedition left Britain on July 15, 1894. It returned more than two years later, on August 30, 1896. During their time in Madagascar, they collected a huge number of specimens. These included fossils, plants, and animals. All these collections filled 73 large crates! They brought them back for scientists to study.