Léon Abel Provancher,(
1820-
1892), was born
March 10, 1820 in
Bécancourt,
Québec,
Canada. He was a naturalist (in this case,
biology, not
nudity), and spent all of his off-duty time studying and describing elements of the natural world. He was a leader in this domain, and he was awarded the title "Father of Natural History in Canada".
He studied in a seminary in Nicolet, and became an ordained minister on September 12, 1844, spending the next 25 years preaching from his parish in Portneuf, and organizing pilgrimages to Jerusalem. In 1865, he established the first Canadian confraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis.
In 1868, he started and, for 20 years, edited a monthly journal called "Le Naturaliste Canadien", devoted to scientific discourse on plant, insect, and animal biology. He also was responsible for the creation of a sizeable tree nursery.
He died in Cap Rouge, Québec, on March 23, 1892.
He wrote:
Traité élémentaire de Botanique (1858)
Tableau chronologique et synthétique de l'Histoire du Canada (1859)
Flore du Canada (1862)
Le Verger Canadien (1862)
Le Verger, le Potager et le Parterre (1874)
Faune entomologique du Canada (1877-1890)
De Québec à Jérusalem (1884)
Une Excursion aux Climats tropicaux (1890)
Les Mollusques de la Province de Québec
Named after Léon Provancher:
There is a pavilion, the Pavillon Léon-Provancher, at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières.
Also, there is a huge swamp in Neuville called the Léon Provancher Swamp. I want a swamp.
Further, there are the streets Provancher in Cap-Rouge, and Léon-Provancher in Saint-Nicolas.
Lastly, one can win the Léon-Provancher Prize from the Entomological Society of Québec.