Richard Bradley FRS (1688 – 5 November 1732) was an English naturalist specialising in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

. He published important works on ecology, horticulture, and natural history.

Biography

Bradley, Richard – History of succulent plants, 1739 – BEIC 6925295

Little is known about Bradley's childhood aside from an early interest in gardening and the fact that he lived in the vicinity of London, a city at the time with many amateur naturalists. Though Bradley lacked a university education, his first publication, ''Treatise of Succulent Plants'', gained him traction with influential patrons like

James Petiver James Petiver (c. 1665 – c. 2 April 1718) was a London apothecary, a fellow of the Royal Society as well as London's informal Temple Coffee House Botany Club, famous for his specimen collections in which he traded and study of botany and entom ...

and later,

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

. With their support, he was proposed and elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1712, at the age of 24. In 1714, Bradley visited the Netherlands and took an interest in horticulture. He spent the next decade back in England writing treatises on topics related to this central interest, like weather,

fertiliser A fertilizer (American English) or fertiliser (British English; see spelling differences) is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from ...

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proces ...

, and plant hybridisation. In recognition of his work in the field and with the (thereafter unfulfilled) promise that he would found and fund a university

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, the University of Cambridge named Bradley its first professor of botany in 1724, a position he would hold until his death. As Bradley was not a wealthy man in his later life, and as this was an unsalaried position, the newly minted academic continued to focus most of his efforts on making a living through publishing. According to his rival and successor,

John Martyn Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...

, as well as his successor, son Thomas Martyn, Bradley did this at the expense of his students, whom he reportedly neglected to even lecture to.

Career

Bradley made notable innovations and discoveries across a wide array of disciplines. For example, ''New Improvements of Planting and Gardening'' included directions for the making and use of a rudimentary kaleidoscope to aid in formal garden design and layout. He also wrote about cooking, and was the first to publish recipes in the English language using the then-exotic

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been cultivated for many centuri ...

as the main ingredient. His ''History of

Succulent plant In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', me ...

s'' was the seminal treatise on the topic, and his studies of

tulip Tulips (''Tulipa'') are a genus of spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes (having bulbs as storage organs). The flowers are usually large, showy and brightly coloured, generally red, pink, yellow, or white (usually in warm ...

s and auriculas helped further accurate theories of

plant reproduction Plant reproduction is the production of new offspring in plants, which can be accomplished by sexual or asexual reproduction. Sexual reproduction produces offspring by the fusion of gametes, resulting in offspring genetically different from eithe ...

. Bradley was also a pioneer in the examining of fungal

spore In biology, a spore is a unit of sexual or asexual reproduction that may be adapted for dispersal and for survival, often for extended periods of time, in unfavourable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many plants, algae, ...

germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, fe ...

and the pollination of plants by insects. His publications additionally contained information on how to build and use

greenhouse A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These ...

s, early theories regarding

agricultural productivity Agricultural productivity is measured as the ratio of agricultural outputs to inputs. While individual products are usually measured by weight, which is known as crop yield, varying products make measuring overall agricultural output difficu ...

, and pond ecology. Richard Bradley's most lasting work may be in the study of

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...

. When many scientists were still holding fast to the ideals of

mechanical philosophy The mechanical philosophy is a form of natural philosophy which compares the universe to a large-scale mechanism (i.e. a machine). The mechanical philosophy is associated with the scientific revolution of early modern Europe. One of the first expo ...

, Bradley turned to

empirical Empirical evidence for a proposition is evidence, i.e. what supports or counters this proposition, that is constituted by or accessible to sense experience or experimental procedure. Empirical evidence is of central importance to the sciences and ...

studies and experiments for his work. Though spread across a handful of his papers, when taken together, a unified, biological theory of infectious diseases spanning all life – from plants and animals to humans – emerges.

Selected bibliography

Bradley was the prolific author of at least twenty-four original books and pamphlets; some of his major publications are listed below. Dates are for first editions. *1710: ''Treatise of Succulent Plants'' *1716–1727: ''History of Succulent Plants'' (appeared in five instalments)
Second edition corrected (London, 1739)
*1719–1720: ''New Improvements of Planting and Gardening'' *1721: ''A Philosophical Account of the Works of Nature'' *1721: ''The Plague at Marseilles Considered'' *1721–1723: ''A General Treatise of Husbandry and Gardening'' (appeared in fifteen issues and later collected into three volumes from 1721–1724) *1727: ''Ten Practical Discourses Concerning Earth and Water, Fire and Air, as They Relate to the Growth of Plants'' *c.1727: ''The Country Housewife and Lady's Director'' (cookery) *1730: ''A Course of Lectures upon the Materia Medica, Ancient and Modern''

References

External links

Database Entry at the Royal Society
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Richard Professors of Botany (Cambridge) Botanists with author abbreviations English botanists English food writers English gardeners English naturalists Fellows of the Royal Society Pre-Linnaean botanists 1688 births 1732 deaths