Phil Inquirer: The roots of a naturalist – his first professional sale
(Brain Cramp alert – I managed, not for the first time, to write the wrong newspaper. It is the Inquirer, not the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Cobwebs in the attic…)
It’s a little bit of a squeeze putting this Inquirer story by Sandy Bauers on to the science beat, but only a bit. It is about John James Audubon, best known for his bird paintings. Bauers skillfully presents a tale of historical research into a man and his long reported, long unseen, commercial painting. As Audubon was a naturalist, and as naturalist was the term in use (also, natural philosopher) before the word scientist was invented and Audubon was already in middle-age when that happened, and as natural philosophy and naturalists led notably to such fields as geology, botany, and zoology, therefore this yarn fits this site’s license well enough.
Start reading it. I can’t imagine many who do so not finishing it. (Thank you Tom Avril for tipping us off ).
- Charlie Petit
