Johann Philipp Breyne

Johann Philipp Breyne (1680 to 1764) was a German botanist, palaeontologist, zoologist and entomologist, born and died in Danzig, now Gdańsk. He is best known for his work on the Polish cochineal, an insect formerly used to make red dye. After the death of his father, Jacob Breyne, he studied at Leiden University under teachers who included Govard Bidloo and Herman Boerhaave, and he was awarded the title of Doctor of Medicine in 1699. In 1702 he made a nine-month study visit to England with letters of recommendation, where he was received by James Petiver and met Hans Sloane and John Ray, and in 1703 he travelled in Italy, where he visited Antonio Vallisneri at Padua and collected sea animals on the Adriatic coast. Proposed by Hans Sloane, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 21 April 1703. He was also a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina after 1715 and of the Societas Litteraria after 1720.