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Robert Plot (13 December 1640 – April 30 1696) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 naturalist
Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals....
, first Professor of Chemistry
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum. Its first building is sometimes attributed to Christopher Wren, though there is no good evidence for this claim, and was built in 1678?1683 to house the collection or cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677....
.

Born in Borden, Kent
Borden, Kent

Borden is a village situated immediately south west of Sittingbourne, Kent, from which it is separated by a small area of rural land. The history of the name is questioned....
, he was educated and subsequently taught at Magdalen Hall, Oxford before moving to University College
University College, Oxford

University College , is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England. It is a contender for being the oldest of the colleges of the university, and is amongst the largest in terms of population....
 in 1676.






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Dr Robert Plot of Magdelen Hall Oxford
Robert Plot (13 December 1640 – April 30 1696) was an English
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
 naturalist
Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals....
, first Professor of Chemistry
Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions....
 at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford

The University of Oxford , located in the city of Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation in the English-speaking world....
, and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum

The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum. Its first building is sometimes attributed to Christopher Wren, though there is no good evidence for this claim, and was built in 1678?1683 to house the collection or cabinet of curiosities Elias Ashmole gave Oxford University in 1677....
.

Born in Borden, Kent
Borden, Kent

Borden is a village situated immediately south west of Sittingbourne, Kent, from which it is separated by a small area of rural land. The history of the name is questioned....
, he was educated and subsequently taught at Magdalen Hall, Oxford before moving to University College
University College, Oxford

University College , is one of the Colleges of the University of Oxford of the University of Oxford in England. It is a contender for being the oldest of the colleges of the university, and is amongst the largest in terms of population....
 in 1676. He was a mature commoner at University College and donated a statue of King Alfred to the College (erroneously believed to be the founder of the College).

Plot is known for looking for natural curiosities in several English counties, and for writing Natural History of Oxfordshire in which he described the fossilised femur of a giant (now known to be from the dinosaur
Dinosaur

Dinosaurs were the dominant vertebrate animals of Landform ecosystems for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic Period until the end of the Cretaceous Period , when most of them became extinct in the Cretaceous?Tertiary extinction event....
 Megalosaurus
Megalosaurus

Megalosaurus is a genus of large meat-eating theropod dinosaurs of the Middle Jurassic Period of Europe . It is significant as the first genus of dinosaur to be described and named....
) and Natural History of Staffordshire, in which he describes a double sunset.

In 1677, he became a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society

The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, or even the Royal, is a learned society for science that was founded in 1660 and is considered by most to be the oldest such society still in existence....
 as a result of his exhibition of minerals, and in 1682 became the society's Secretary, and joint editor of the Philosophical Transactions (144 - 178) . In the field of chemistry he searched for a universal solvent that could be obtained from wine spirits, and believed that alchemy was necessary for medicine. After 1686, Plot focused more on archaeology, but misinterpreted Roman
Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC....
 remains as Saxon
Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
. He stressed the unusual; he studied echoes in order to learn about air, mineral waters, and recognised types of earth in layers, but believed that fossil
Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or trace fossil of animals, plants, and other organisms from the remote past. The totality of fossils, both discovered and undiscovered, and their placement in fossiliferous Rock formations and sedimentary rock layers is known as the fossil record....
 shellfish were coincidental mineral crystallisations, and that some spring water must originate from the sea flowing through underground channels.

This office of Mowbray Herald Extraordinary
Mowbray Herald Extraordinary

Mowbray Herald of Arms Extraordinary was an England Officer of Arms. Though an officer of the crown, Mowbray Herald Extraordinary was not a member of the corporation of the College of Arms in London....
 was created in January 1695 for Plot, who was made Registrar of the College of Arms
College of Arms

The College of Arms, or Heralds' College, is an office regulating heraldry and granting new armorial bearings for England, Wales and Northern Ireland....
 just two days later.

Plot died in Borden, the village of his birth.

External links

  • from the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford