John Fleming (naturalist) facts for kids

Prof John Fleming's grave, Dean Cemetery

John Fleming (born January 10, 1785 – died November 18, 1857) was a Scottish minister who was also a very important naturalist, zoologist, and geologist. A naturalist studies nature, a zoologist studies animals, and a geologist studies the Earth's rocks and history. He discovered and named many types of molluscs, which are soft-bodied animals like snails and clams. Throughout his life, he tried to show how theology (the study of religion) and science could fit together.

A place in Greenland, Fleming Fjord, is named after him!

About John Fleming's Life

John Fleming was born on a farm called Kirkroads Farm, near a town called Bathgate in Scotland. His parents were Alexander Fleming and Catherine Nimmo.

He went to the University of Edinburgh to study to become a minister. He finished his studies in 1805. In 1808, he became a minister for the Church of Scotland in the Shetland Islands. Later, he moved to other parishes (church areas) in Fife in 1810 and Clackmannan in 1832.

In 1808, he helped start the Wernerian Society. This was a group of smart people who loved to study natural history, which is the study of living things and nature.

John Fleming became a member of the important Royal Society of London in 1813. This is a famous group for scientists. In 1814, he received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of St. Andrews. In the same year, he also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, another important scientific group in Scotland.

In 1834, he became a professor of natural philosophy (which is like physics) at the University of Aberdeen. In 1843, there was a big event called the Disruption of 1843. This is when many ministers, including Fleming, left the main Church of Scotland to start a new church called the Free Church.

After this, in 1845, he became a professor of natural history at the Free Church's New College in Edinburgh. He was chosen three times to be the President of the Edinburgh Botanical Society, which studies plants. He lived in Edinburgh's West End at that time.

John Fleming passed away at his home in Leith. He is buried with his family in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh. His wife, Melville Christie, and his son, Dr. Andrew Fleming, are also buried there. His son also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and was an important doctor in the Indian Army.

John Fleming's Scientific Work

Fleming believed in something called a 'vital principle'. This idea suggested that living things have a special force inside them that helps them grow and develop. He was against the idea that everything could be explained only by physical matter. He also worked closely with Robert Edmond Grant, another scientist who thought that all living things followed similar rules of life.

In 1824, Fleming had a famous disagreement with another geologist named William Buckland. They argued about the story of The Flood from the Bible and how it related to geology.

In 1828, Fleming published a very important book called History of British Animals. This book talked about both animals that were alive then and fossil animals (animals that lived long ago and turned into stone). He suggested that fossils were found because the Earth's climate had changed over time. He thought that if the weather had stayed good, some of these extinct animals might have survived. These ideas were very important for the study of biogeography, which looks at where living things are found on Earth. His ideas even influenced Charles Darwin, who later developed the theory of evolution. Darwin was especially interested in Fleming's thoughts on animal instinct, which he wrote about in his book Philosophy of Zoology.

In 1831, Fleming made an exciting discovery. He found some fish fossils in rocks called Old Red Sandstone in Fife. At the time, many people believed the Earth was only about 6,000 years old. Finding these ancient fish fossils helped show that the Earth was much, much older than people thought.

Some of John Fleming's Books

• 1821: Insecta (about insects)
• 1822: Philosophy of Zoology ([Volume 1], [Volume 2])
• 1828: [A History of British animals] (about British animals, including fossils)
• 1837: [Molluscous Animals] (about molluscs)
• 1851: The Temperature of the Seasons, and Its Influence on Inorganic Objects, and on Plants and Animals (about how temperature affects nature)

Species Named by John Fleming

John Fleming was very active in naming and classifying new species. Here are some of the groups and specific species of Mollusca (like snails, clams, and octopuses) that he named:

• Superfamily: Conoidea Fleming, 1822
• Family: Conidae Fleming, 1822
• Subfamily: Coninae Fleming, 1822

Here are some specific species he described: