science · 15 August 1836 · 188 years ago
birth
Born 15 Aug 1836; died 5 Aug 1916 at age 79.
Robert John Lechmere was an English civil engineer, geologist, conchologist and paleontologist whose name was given to the guppy fish, a small livebearer. After discovering the fish in Trinidad, he sent specimens to the British Museum, where the curator assigned it a species name of gupppii. The common name of the fish continues to be used even though the scientific name for the fish was changed (in part, because another naturalist made an earlier discovery of a similar fish in Venezuela). Guppy moved to Trinidad in 1839 where he pursued a career in public service. His efforts led to the introduction to the island of telegraph service (1868) and a railway (1876). After this, he was mayor of San Fernando for several years.
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