
Pius Font i Quer (
Lleida 1888 –
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ...
1964) was a Catalan
botanist,
pharmacist
A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...
and
chemist
A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe ...
.
He organized the
Institut Botànic de Barcelona
An institute is an organisational body created for a certain purpose. They are often research organisations (research institute, research institutes) created to do research on specific topics, or can also be a professional body.
In some countr ...
and founded
Jardí Botànic in this city. In 1911 he joined the Health Military Corporation, in which he was given the military rank of ''tinent coronel farmacèutic''. He was on a botanic expedition in
Albarracín
Albarracín () is a Spanish town, in the province of Teruel, part of the autonomous community of Aragon. According to the 2007 census (INE), the municipality had a population of 1075 inhabitants. Albarracín is the capital of the mountainous Sie ...
(
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to so ...
) with his fellowship when the
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general who led the Nationalist forces in overthrowing the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War and thereafter ruled over Spain from 19 ...
's 1936 ''coup d'état'' failed and began the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...
. When he want back to Barcelona, he had to go through the war front; for this the reason he was accused of being a member of the military rebellion and lost all his honours, which made continuation of his scientific work difficult.
He was president of the
Institució Catalana d'Història Natural (1931–1934), president of the
Institut d'Estudis Catalans
The Institute for Catalan Studies ( ca, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, ), also known by the acronym and initialism, acronym IEC, is an academic institution which seeks to undertake research and study into "all elements of Catalan culture". It is bas ...
in 1958 and of the
Société Botanique
Lactalis is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier SA.
Lactalis is the largest dairy products group in the world, and is the se ...
at Geneve, honour vice president of the International Botany Congresses at
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...
(1954) and
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
(1964) and doctor ''honoris causa'' at the University of
Montpellier.
Pius Font i Quer was the main creator of scientific botanical terminology in
Catalan
Catalan may refer to:
Catalonia
From, or related to Catalonia:
* Catalan language, a Romance language
* Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia
Places
* 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...
and
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
. His most well-known works are
''Diccionario de Botánica''(1953), which is the reference work for botany students in Spain; ''Plantas medicinales'' (1961); and ''Botánica pintoresca'' (1958). His research took place in
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
, but specially in Catalonia, southern
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous comm ...
and the Balearic Islands, mainly in
Ibiza and
Formentera
Formentera (, ) is the smallest and most southerly island of the Pityusic Islands group (comprising Ibiza and Formentera, as well as various small islets), which belongs to the Balearic Islands autonomous community (Spain). It covers an area ...
.
Some species and subspecies have been named in honour of Font i Quer and bear the species epithet ''fontqueri''.
References
External links
Font i Quer's Mycological Association in SpainDiccionario de Botánica Ed. Labor, Barcelona (1953)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Font i Quer, Pius
1888 births
1964 deaths
People from Lleida
20th-century Spanish botanists
Members of the Institute for Catalan Studies