‘Dictator of British Botany’. ‘Autocrat of the Philosophers’. Sir Joseph Banks has been called many things over the past few centuries. A towering figure in the development of British botany and British natural history during the 18th century, he voyaged across the World with famous navigators such as Captain Cook, visiting far away lands such as Australia and bringing back a plethora of new plant species to Britain.
This, however, was only the beginning of Banks’ extraordinary career. Upon his return to England, he became President of the Royal Society, where his stellar career as a naturalist really began.
In this documentary Jordan Goodman and the Natural History Museum’s Dr Mark Carine tell the story of Joseph Banks and highlight why he has such a dominant legacy in the development of British botany. Produced by Iris Gibson.
Up Next in Science and Technology
-
Communities in Crisis
Steve Wyler answers the big questions about how communities have responded to pandemics in the past and whether similar reactions can be seen in the current COVID-19 pandemic.
-
National Museum of Computing
Our new strand, Access All Areas, will take you behind the scenes at top historical destinations. "Like many people my age - some of my strongest childhood memories are of the exciting new devices called "computers" that started appearing in our homes. I spent hours learning programming on a BBC ...
-
The Mystery of the Headless Man
This story has everything: war, politics, betrayal, scandal, murder and at its heart a cracking forensic science mystery. This is the story of Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat of the Highland, also known as the Fox. In the late 1660s, Simon Fraser was born in a house on the banks of a burn in th...
10 Comments