[Taxacom] Symposium: Visions from the Blind Seer of Ambon

Fri Feb 18 16:50:23 CST 2011

[Please reply / correspond to "events at linnean.org", not to Peter.]

From: Claire Inman <Claire at linnean.org>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:26:22 +0000

Visions from the Blind Seer of Ambon
A celebration of Georg Everard Rumphius (1627-1702) and his Ambonese Herbal

12th May 2011

A joint meeting between the Linnean Society of London, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science and the Society of the History of Natural History

Supported by the Annals of Botany and Yale University Press

Georg Everard Rumphius (1627-1702) was probably the worlds most productive pre-Linnaean naturalist.  In the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) he spent most of his life on Ambon, one of the spice islands in the Moluccas (Indonesia), first as a soldier and a builder.  Later he was a successful VOC merchant, and as self-taught and self-appointed naturalist, he documented and interpreted the terrestrial and marine life around him as well as its uses by the local population.  His Herbarium Amboinense or Ambonese Herbal, published in seven folio volumes long after his death, is a monument of early tropical plant biology and ethnobotany.  For over 250 years only available in Latin and Dutch, the Rumphius Herbal is now finally accessible to a wide readership.  Thanks to the excellent translation and informative annotations by the late Professor Eric Montague (Monty) Beekman of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, this English language edition will be co-published by Yale University Press and the (U.S) National Tropical Botanical Garden.  This is a cause for celebrations in SE Asia, Europe and the USA.  The Linnean Society of London, jointly with the Royal Netherland Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and the Society of the History of Natural History, is organising a one-day symposium in London on 12 May 2011, addressing the biohistorical, botanical, medicinal and anthropological significance of Rumphius masterpiece.

Programme
10.00am - Registration and coffee
10.20am - Opening and Welcome 
10.30am - The allure of plant diversity  Rumphius revealed by Beekman, Professor Lynn Margulis, Amherst, Mass., USA
11.10am - Rumphius life and personality, Professor Pieter Baas,Leiden, The Netherlands
11.50am - (Pre-) Colonial Botany of the 17th century, Professor Hal Cook, Providence Rhode Island, USA
12.30pm - Lunch
13.30pm - Rumphius manuscripts in Leiden, Professor Harm Beukers, Leiden, The Netherlands
14.10pm - The fate of Rumphius plant names in the Linnaean era, Dr Charlie Jarvis, Natural History Museum, London
14.50pm - Plant Resources of Southeast Asia revisited today, Dr Jan Siemonsma, Wageningen, The Netherlands
15.30pm - Tea
16.00pm - Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in the Moluccas  is it possible?, Professor Paul Jepson, Oxford
16.40pm - Presentation of the Ambonese Herbal, Ms Jean Black, Yale University Press
17.00pm - Drinks Reception
19.00pm - Close

For more information about the conference, details of accommodation and directions to the Linnean Society, please contact:
Events, The Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BF
Tel.: +44 (0)20 7434 4479     Fax: +44 (0)20 7287 9364     Email: events at linnean.org

For registration please visit <http://www.linnean.org/fileadmin/events2/events.php?detail=262>http://www.linnean.org/fileadmin/events2/events.php?detail=262 

Have a good weekend!
Regards

Claire Inman FLS
Communications Manager

Follow us on Twitter: @LinneanSociety

The Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London, W1J 0BF, UK 
Tel: +44 (0)20 7434 4479 EXT 11   Fax: +44 (0)20 7287 9364    <http://www.linnean.org>www.linnean.org   Charity Reference No. 220509

Sign up to <https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa.exe?SUBED1=linnean-news&A=1>Linnean News for updates on Linnean Society events and activities

Please consider the environment before printing this email