Joseph Banks

Banks brought Bauer to Kew, checked Darwin’s Latin names, sponsored Hooker’s Icelandic journey, was succeeded by Davy as president of the Royal Society, and sent Coleridge some marijuana for him and Tom Wedgwood to experiment with. He had a huge circle of scientific friends (including Humboldt, Berzelius, Daubenton, Franklin and Wollaston) and correspondents (including Berthollet, Biot, Babbage, Lavoisier, Jussieu, Volta, Watt, Beddoes, Herschel, Hunter, Rumford, White, Young, Wedgwood and Withering). Solander, a lifelong friend, introduced him to Linnaeus, another close correspondent.