{{short description|French botanist (1873-1956)}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Auguste Chevalier |image = Auguste Chevalier, 1900.jpg |image_size = |caption = Auguste Chevalier in 1900 |birth_name = |birth_date = {{Birth date|1873|06|23}} |birth_place = Domfront |death_date = {{Death date and age|1956|06|04|1873|06|23}} |death_place = Paris |body_discovered = |death_cause = |resting_place = |resting_place_coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LONG|display=inline,title}} --> |citizenship = French |other_names = |known_for = |education = |alma_mater = |employer = |occupation = Botanist |years_active = |title = |height = |term = |predecessor = |successor = |party = |opponents = |boards = |spouse = |partner = |children = |parents = |relations = |callsign = |signature = |website = |footnotes = |author_abbrev_bot = '''A.Chev.''' }} '''Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier''' (June 1873, in Domfront – June 1956, in Paris) was a French botanist, taxonomist, and explorer of tropical Africa, especially of French colonial empire in Africa that included Côte d'Ivoire. He also explored and collected plants in South America and tropical Asia. Chevalier was a prolific contributor to the knowledge of African plants, studying forest trees and their woods, grasses, and agricultural plants of the continent. Unlike other botanists who studied the plants of tropical Africa, Chevalier also ranged to the floral regions of the Sahara.
In 1896, he obtained his degree in natural sciences and in 1901 his phD from the University of Lille.<ref name=PR>[http://cths.fr/an/prosopo.php?id=102836 Prosopo] Sociétés savantes</ref><ref name=JS>[http://plants.jstor.org/person/bm000001449 JSTOR Global Plants] (biography)</ref> At Lille he worked as an assistant to botanist Charles Eugene Bertrand (1851-1917).<ref name=PR/> In 1899–1900, he took part in a scientific mission in French Sudan, and in 1905 established a botanical garden in Dalaba, French Guinea.<ref name=JS/> From 1913 to 1919, he collected plants throughout Indochina.<ref>[http://kiki.huh.harvard.edu/databases/botanist_search.php?botanistid=958 HUH] Index of Botanists</ref> Later, he attained a professorship in Paris (1929).<ref name=BN>[http://data.bnf.fr/12136819/auguste_chevalier/ BNF.fr] Auguste Chevalier (1873-1956)</ref>
In 1937, he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences, serving as its president in 1953. He was also a member of the Académie des sciences d'outre-mer (from 1922), president of the ''Société botanique de France'' (1929), vice-president of the ''Comité national de géographie'' (1935-1952) and a member of the ''Académie d'agriculture de France'' (from 1937).<ref name=PR/><ref name=BN/> He was elected a Foreign Member of the Linnean Society of London.<ref>{{cite journal|postscript=; H. Hamshaw Thomas, M.B.E., F.R.S., President in the Chair|journal=Proceedings of the Linnean Society London|date=24 May 1957|title=deaths reported|doi=10.1111/j.1095-8312.1958.tb00806.x}}</ref>
In 1921, he founded the journal, ''Revue de Botanique appliquée et d'Agriculture coloniale''.<ref name=PR/><ref name=BN/> The botanical genera ''Chevalierella'', ''Chevalierodendron'', ''Neochevaliera'' and ''Neochevalierodendron'' are named in his honor.<ref name=JS/>
== Selected writings == * ''Sur l'existence probable d'une mer récente dans la région de Tombouctou'', 1901 - On the probable existence of a recent sea in the region of Timbuktu. * ''Rapport sur une mission scientifique et économique au Chari-lac-Tchad'', 1905 - Report on a scientific and economic mission involving the Chari-Lake Chad. * ''La forêt vierge de la Côte d'Ivoire'', 1908 - The virgin forest of the Ivory Coast. * ''Mission Chari-Lac Tchad, 1902-1904: L'Afrique Centrale Française'', 1908 - Chari-Lake Chad mission (1902–04); French central Africa. * ''Le Pays des Hollis et les régions voisines: Mission scientifique de l'Afrique occidentale française'', 1910 - The country of Hollis and neighboring regions; scientific mission to French West Africa. * ''La forét et les bois du Gabon'', 1917 - The forest and wood of Gabon. * ''La forêt du Brésil'', 1929 - The forest of Brazil.<ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22August+Chevalier%22 Google Search] (list of publications)</ref><ref>[http://www.google.com/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=inauthor:%22Auguste+Chevalier%22 Google Search] (more publications)</ref> * ''Les iles du Cap Vert : flore de l'Archipel'', 1935 - The islands of Cape Verde; flora of the archipelago. * ''L'agriculture coloniale : origines et évolutions'', 1949 - Colonial agriculture, origins and evolutions.<ref>[http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AChevalier%2C+Auguste&qt=hot_author WorldCat Search] (publications)</ref> * ''Octave Lignier, professeur de botanique à la Faculté des sciences de l'Université de Caen... (1855-1916). Notice biographique'' – Biography of Octave Lignier.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books/about/Octave_Lignier_professeur_de_botanique.html?id=8CmtXwAACAAJ Octave Lignier, professeur de botanique à la Faculté des sciences de l'Université de Caen] Google Books</ref> * "[https://www.persee.fr/doc/jatba_0370-3681_1944_num_24_269_6107 Histoire de deux plantes cultivées d'importance primordiale. Le Lin et le Chanvre]" [History of two cultivated plants, Flax and Hemp] ''Revue de botanique appliquée et d’agriculture coloniale'' (1944)
{{botanist|A.Chev.|Chevalier, Auguste Jean Baptiste}}
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * [http://www.ipni.org/ipni/advPlantNameSearch.do?find_includePublicationAuthors=on&find_includeBasionymAuthors=on&find_rankToReturn=all&output_format=normal&find_authorAbbrev=A.Chev. IPNI] List of plants described and co-described by Chevalier.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chevalier, Auguste Jean Baptiste}} Category:1873 births Category:1956 deaths Category:People from Domfront en Poiraie Category:20th-century French botanists Category:Botanists with author abbreviations Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences