Robert Sibbald

Sir Robert Sibbald (15 April 1641 – August 1722) was a Scottish physician and antiquary.

Life

He was born in Edinburgh, the son of David Sibbald (brother of Sir James Sibbald) and Margaret Boyd (January 1606 – 10 July 1672). Educated at the Royal High School and the Universities of Edinburgh, Leiden, and Paris, he took his doctor's degree at the University of Angers in 1662, and soon afterwards settled as a physician in Edinburgh. In 1667 with Sir Andrew Balfour he started the botanical garden in Edinburgh, and he took a leading part in establishing the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, of which he was elected president in 1684.

In 1685 he was appointed the first professor of medicine at the University of Edinburgh. He was also appointed Geographer Royal in 1682, and his numerous and miscellaneous writings deal with historical and antiquarian as well as with botanical and medical subjects. He based much of his cartographical studies on the work of Timothy Pont. He is buried at Greyfriar's Cemetery in Edinburgh.

The wildflower Sibbaldia procumbens was named after him.

Taxonomy of the Blue Whale - Sibbaldus

Originally the Blue Whale was named after Sibbald, who first described it scientifically.

Although the blue whale is today usually classified as one of eight species in the genus Balaenoptera; one authority still places it in a separate monotypic genus, Sibbaldus, but this is not widely accepted.

The Blue Whale was once commonly referred to as Sibbald's rorqual.

Works

Sibbald's historical and antiquarian works include:

• 1683: An Account of the Scottish Atlas. Folio, Edinburgh
• 1684: Scotia illustrata. Edinburgh
• 1699: Memoria Balfouriana; sive, Historia rerum, pro literis promovendis, gestarum a ... fratribus Balfouriis ... Jacobo ... et ... Andrea. Authore R.S.. Edinburgi: Typis Hæredum Andreæ Anderson
• 1699: Provision for the poor in time of dearth and scarcity
• 1710: A History Ancient and Modern of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross. Edinburgh
• 1711: Description of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland. Folio, Edinburgh
• 1803: A History Ancient and Modern of the Sheriffdoms of Fife and Kinross. Cupar
• 1837: The Remains of Sir Robert Sibbald, containing his autobiography, memoirs of the Royal College of Physicians, a portion of his literary correspondence, and an account of his MSS.; [edited by James Maidment], 2 pt. in 1 vol. Edinburgh: [printed for the editor]; edition of thirty-five copies; the titlepage of the Autobiography bears the date 1833
• 1845: Description of the Isles of Orkney and Shetland (folio, Edinburgh)

External links

Article at National Library of Scotland

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.