Jean Pierre François Camille Montagne (February 15, 1784 - December 5, 1866) was a French military physician and botanist who specialized in the fields of bryology

Bryology

Bryology is the branch of botany concerned with the scientific study of bryophytes . Bryophytes were first studied in detail in the 18th century...

 and mycology

Mycology

Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungi, including their genetic and biochemical properties, their taxonomy and their use to humans as a source for tinder, medicinals , food and entheogens, as well as their dangers, such as poisoning or...

. He was born in the commune of Vaudoy in the department of Seine-et-Marne

Seine-et-Marne

Seine-et-Marne is a French department, named after the Seine and Marne rivers, and located in the Île-de-France region.- History:Seine-et-Marne is one of the original 83 departments, created on March 4, 1790 during the French Revolution in application of the law of December 22, 1789...

.

At the age of 14, Montagne joined the French navy, and took part in Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. In 1802 he returned to France to study medicine, and two years later became a military surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

. In 1832, at the age of 48 he retired from military service to concentrate on the study of cryptogams (mosses, algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

, lichen

Lichen

Lichens are composite organisms consisting of a symbiotic organism composed of a fungus with a photosynthetic partner , usually either a green alga or cyanobacterium...

s and fungi).

Montagne is remembered for pioneer research of mycological species native to Guyane

French Guiana

French Guiana is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department located on the northern Atlantic coast of South America. It has borders with two nations, Brazil to the east and south, and Suriname to the west...

. In 1845 he was the first scientist to provide a description of Phytophthora infestans

Phytophthora infestans

Phytophthora infestans is an oomycete that causes the serious potato disease known as late blight or potato blight. . Late blight was a major culprit in the 1840s European, the 1845 Irish and 1846 Highland potato famines...

, a potato blight fungus he referred to as Botrytis infestans.

He contributed numerous articles to the Archives de Botanique and the Annales des Sciences naturelles, and in 1853 was elected a member of the Académie des sciences. Swedish mycologist Elias Magnus Fries

Elias Magnus Fries

-External links:*, Authors of fungal names, Mushroom, the Journal of Wild Mushrooming.*...

 (1794-1878) named the genera Montagnaea and Montagnites after Camille Montagne. He died in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

on December 5, 1866.