Guillaume-Antoine Olivier

Who was Guillaume-Antoine Olivier?

Guillaume-Antoine Olivier was a French entomologist.

He was the author of Entomologie, ou histoire naturelle des Insectes and Le Voyage dans l'Empire Othoman, l'Égypte et la Perse. He was a close friend of Johan Christian Fabricius and a patron of Pierre André Latreille.

He studied medicine in Montpellier, where he became good friends with Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet. With Jean Guillaume Bruguière and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, he collaborated in the creation of Journal d'Histoire Naturelle. Afterwards, he served as a naturalist on a 6-year scientific journey that took him to Asia Minor, Persia, Egypt, Cyprus and Corfu. He returned to France in 1798 with a large collection of natural history specimens from his travels. Later, he was associated with the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort, where in 1811, he was appointed professor of zoology.

Today, most of his collection is housed at the Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.