Étienne Fiacre Louis Raoul (23 July 1815 – 30 March 1852) was a French

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Specialis ...

and naturalist. He was born in Brest, the son of Joseph-François Raoul, a captain in the

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

, and studied at the medical school in Brest. He was appointed surgeon, third class, in 1836. He took part in an expedition on the ship ''L'Aube'' under the command of Lieutenant Lavaud. He landed at the

Bay of Islands The Bay of Islands is an area on the east coast of the Far North District of the North Island of New Zealand. It is one of the most popular fishing, sailing and tourist destinations in the country, and has been renowned internationally for ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on 11 July 1840, and departed three years later aboard ''L'Allier''. After returning to Paris, he worked at the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

(National Museum of Natural History) under the direction of Adolphe Brongniart (1801–1876) and

Joseph Decaisne Joseph Decaisne (7 March 1807 – 8 January 1882) was a French botanist and agronomist. He became an ''aide-naturaliste'' to Adrien-Henri de Jussieu (1797–1853), who served as the chair of rural botany. It was during this time that he began to ...

(1807–1882) to describe and classify the large number of specimens collected during his stay in New Zealand. At the same time, he studied medicine and obtained his doctorate in 1844 with the thesis ''Des rapports des maladies aigües et chroniques du cœur avec les affections dites rhumatismales'' ("Reports of acute and chronic coronary diseases with rheumatic ailments"). In 1846 he published a book ''Choix de plantes de la Nouvelle-Zélande'' ("Selected plants of New Zealand"). After a short expedition to Africa in 1846, he became medical professor at the port of Brest in 1849. In 1851 he published ''Guide hygiénique et médical pour les bâtiments de commerce qui fréquentent la Côte Occidentale d’Afrique'' ("Sanitary and medical guide for merchant vessels visiting the West Coast of Africa"). In the 'jardin des explorateurs' at Brest, his place of death is given as

Lannilis Lannilis (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Finistère Departments of France, department of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in north-western France. Population Inhabitants of Lannilis are called in French language, French ' ...

. The genus '' Raoulia'' was named after him by

Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Ro ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raoul, Etienne Fiacre Louis 19th-century French botanists 1815 births 1852 deaths Naval surgeons