~ 1812 - 1880
Robert Fortune (1812-1880) was a Scottish botanist and plant hunter, best known for his role in the introduction of tea cultivation to India. Employed by the British East India Company, he traveled to China in the 1840s to gather tea plants and seeds, which significantly contributed to the development of the tea industry in British India. Fortune's expeditions and studies in botany also extended to a wide array of other plants, making him a prominent figure in the field of horticulture.