Banks, Sir Joseph

(born , Feb. 13, 1743, London, Eng.—died June 19, 1820, Isleworth, London) British explorer and naturalist. After studying at Oxford, Banks inherited a fortune that allowed him to travel extensively, collecting plant and natural history specimens. He outfitted and accompanied James Cook's voyage around the world (1768–71). Particularly interested in economic plants and their introduction from one country to another, he was the first to suggest the identity of the wheat rust and barberry fungus (1805); he was also the first to show that marsupial mammals are more primitive than placental mammals. He served as president of the Royal Society from 1778 to 1820, and, as unofficial director of Kew Gardens, he transformed it into a major botanical institution. His herbarium, one of the most important in existence, and his library, a major collection of works on natural history, are now at the British Museum.

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