1. Pierre Belon was a French traveller, naturalist, writer and diplomat.
10 Facts About Pierre Belon
1. 2.
Pierre Belon is sometimes known as Pierre Belon du Mans, or, in the Latin in which his works appeared, as Petrus Bellonius Cenomanus.
3.
Pierre Belon travelled around Germany with Cordus in 1542, and on his return, he travelled through Flanders and to England.
4.
Pierre Belon returned to Paris with his copious notes and began to publish.
5.
Pierre Belon was highly favoured both by Henry II and by Charles IX, the latter of whom accorded him lodging in the Chateau de Madrid in the Bois de Boulogne.
6.
Pierre Belon was typical of the Renaissance scholar and took an interest in "all kinds of good disciplines" in his lifetime.
7.
Pierre Belon was interested in zoology, botany and classical Antiquity.
8.
Pierre Belon's first book was Histoire naturelle des estranges poissons and despite its title was a work mainly on the dolphin; it did have woodcuts of some fishes, possibly the first among printed books in the West.
9.
Pierre Belon's second book, De aquatilibus greatly expanded on the first and included a description of 110 species of fish, with illustrations; it was a work that laid the foundation of modern ichthyology.
10.
Pierre Belon's works were translated by Carolus Clusius, and he was held in high authority by the Italian naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi.