- Felipe Poey
Felipe Poey y Aloy (
May 26 ,1799 —January 28 ,1891 ) was aCuba nzoologist .Biography
Poey was born in
Havana , the son of French and Spanish parents. He spent several years (1804 to 1807) of his life in Pau then studied law inMadrid . He became alawyer inSpain but was forced to leave due to his liberal ideas, returning to Cuba in 1823. He began to concentrate on the study of the natural science and travelled toFrance in 1825 with his wife. He began writing on thebutterflies of Cuba and acquiring knowledge onfish , later supplyingGeorges Cuvier and Valenciennes with fish specimens from Cuba. He took part in the foundation, in 1832, of theSociété Entomologique de France .Poey returned to Cuba in 1833 where he founded the Museum of Natural History in 1839. In 1842 he became the first professor of zoology and
comparative anatomy at theUniversity of Havana . He also took part in the creation of the Academy of Science (natural, physical and medical) of Havana and was a president of the anthropological Society.Works
(selected)
*"Centurie de Lepidoptere de L'Ile de Cuba" (Paris, 1832)
*"Compilation of Geography of the Island of Cuba" (1836).
*"Memories on the Natural History of the Island of Cuba" (1851 et 1856-1858).
*"Historia Natural de la Isla de Cuba" (2 vols., 1860)
*"Poissons de l'île de Cuba" (1874).
*"Ictiología Cubana", a 20-volume work on the fishes of Cuba
*"Enumeratio piscium cubenscrim" (1875-1876).Philately
Cuba commemorated the 175 birthday of Poey’s birth by a series of six stamps and a stamp sheet in 1974. This same country celebrated the 200th anniversary birthday of his birth by the emission of a series of four illustrated fish stamps in 1999.Translated from French Wikipedia
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