Théodore Louis Joseph-Pons d'Arnaud | |
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Born | 29 May 1811 Sisteron |
Died | 8 June 1884 Chatou |
Occupation |
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Théodore Louis Joseph-Pons d'Arnaud (1811-1884) was a French civil engineer, geographer and naturalist. In 1830 he was hired by the government of Egypt to work on irrigation projects. In 1840-41 he participated in an expedition raised by the Pasha of Egypt that searched (unsuccessfully) for the source of the White Nile. In 1841-42 he explored in the Sudan on an expedition led by Binbashi (Major) Selim, a Turkish officer in the Marine d'Alexandrie. Further voyages of exploration took him to Ethiopia and Yemen (1843) and the Sudan (1860).[1][2]
In 1844 d'Arnaud was awarded the Grande Médaille d'Or des Explorations (gold medal for exploration) by French Geographical Society. In 1856 he was appointed as a Lieutenant colonel in an Egyptian regiment.
D'Arnaud authored a book on the aquatic plants of the Upper Nile. Two bird species are named in his honour: D'Arnaud's barbet, an East African insectivorous bird, and the Grey-capped social weaver, Pseudonigrita arnaudi.[3][4]