Description

Antonio José Cavanilles y Palop (1745‒1804) was a Spanish botanist and naturalist, and an activist of the Enlightenment movement. He studied at the University of Valencia, where he became a professor in philosophy (1762) and gained his doctorate in theology (1766); he was ordained as a priest in Oviedo in 1772. In Paris, he discovered the Encyclopédie movement and was one of the first Spanish scientists to use the new taxonomic procedures. He became one of the most prominent people in the scientific field during the age of Enlightenment ...