Robert Brown

Robert Brown FRS FRSE FLS (21 December 1773 – 10 June 1858) was a Scottish botanist.
Brown made important contributions to botany by using the microscope. He made an early description of the cell nucleus and cytoplasmic streaming. He saw Brownian motion in pollen grains. He did early work on plant pollination and fertilisation.
Brown was the first to list the difference between gymnosperms and angiosperms. He did some of the earliest studies in palynology. He worked on plant taxonomy. He identified plant families which are still accepted today.
Brown explored Australia with Matthew Flinders. Based on what he saw and collected, he named many Australian plant genera and species. In Western Australia alone he is the author of nearly 1200 species.
After the division of the Natural History Department of the British Museum into three sections in 1837, Robert Brown became the first Keeper of the Botanical Department. He kept this appointment until his death until his death in 1858.