Jean-Baptiste Van Mons (11 November 1765 Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 — 6 September 1842 Leuven

Leuven

Leuven is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region, Belgium...

) was a Belgian physicist, chemist, botanist, horticulturist and pomologist

Pomology

Pomology is a branch of botany that studies and cultivates pome fruit, particularly from the genera Malus, Prunus and Pyrus belonging to the Rosaceae. The term is sometimes applied more broadly, to the cultivation of any type of fruit...

, and professor of chemistry and agronomy at Louvain (1817-1830). Van Mons carried out the first recorded selective breeding of the European Pear

European Pear

The European Pear, Pyrus communis, is a species of pear native to central and eastern Europe and southwest Asia. The European Pear is one of the most important fruits of temperate regions, being the species from which most orchard pear cultivars grown in Europe, North America and Australia have...

 through cycles of seed propagation.
He was the most prolific pear breeder known, producing no fewer than 40 superior varieties over a 60-year period, including Bosc

Bosc Pear

The Beurré Bosc or Bosc is a cultivar of the European Pear grown in the northwestern U.S. states of California, Washington, and Oregon; Australia; as well as in British Columbia, Ontario and Europe, where it is sometimes called Kaiser.Characteristic features are a long tapering neck and russeted...

 and D'Anjou

D'Anjou

The D'Anjou pear, sometimes referred to as the Beurré d'Anjou or simply Anjou, is a short-necked cultivar of European Pear. The variety was originally named Nec Plus Meuris in Europe and the name Anjou or d'Anjou was erroneously applied to the variety when introduced to America and England...

 pears. Van Mons readily shared his observations and plants, and developed effective ways of exporting cuttings and seedlings as far away as the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The French and Belgians were fanatical about pears, and spent an inordinate amount of time developing new varieties of pear with a buttery taste in the 18th century. A few Belgian varieties show this by having Beurré in the name. Louis XIV doted on pears, his greatest fruit love after figs and, not surprisingly, many varieties were cultivated at Versailles

Versailles

Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...

 by his gardener Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie.

Works

• 1800 Pharmacopée Manuelle , (Bruxelles), 8vo.
• 1812 Grundsätze der Electricitätslehre zur Bestätigung der Franklin'schen Theorie - Marburg, Krieger
• 1812 French translation of Humphry Davy
  Humphry Davy
  Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet FRS MRIA was a British chemist and inventor. He is probably best remembered today for his discoveries of several alkali and alkaline earth metals, as well as contributions to the discoveries of the elemental nature of chlorine and iodine...
  
  's Elements of Chemical Philosophy, London: Johnson and Co., 1812
• 1819-21 Annales Generales des Sciences Physiques (6 vols) - Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
  Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent
  Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent was a French naturalist. He was born at Agen...
  
  , Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez
  Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez
  Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez was a Belgian naturalist.He founded with the French botanist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent and the Belgian chemist Jean-Baptiste Van Mons the Annales générales de Sciences physiques consacrées aux Sciences naturelles published in six volumes between 1819 and...
  
  , Jean Baptiste Van Mons
• 1835-36 Abres fruitiers - L. Dusart, H. Vandenbroeck, Jean Baptiste Van Mons

External links

• Fruit from Washington