Thomas Pennant
1726–98
Traveller and naturalist. Encouraged Gilbert White to begin writing the series of letters that became The natural history and antiquities of Selborne (1789); many of the letters are to Pennant. Pennant’s writings emphasise the goodness of nature, which he considered a reflection of a sanctified creation. Supported the classificatory views of John Ray and later those of Linnaeus.
Sources
DSB
ODNB
Bibliography
DSB: Dictionary of scientific biography. Edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie and Frederic L. Holmes. 18 vols. including index and supplements. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 1970–90.
ODNB: Oxford dictionary of national biography: from the earliest times to the year 2000. (Revised edition.) Edited by H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison. 60 vols. and index. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2004.
