December 13

Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor and privateer born on November 7, 1676. Employed on an English ship, he was marooned on the uninhabited Juan Fernández Islands in the South Pacific after a dispute with his captain. Selkirk survived alone for four years, living off local wildlife and building crude shelters, before being rescued in 1709 by Captain Woodes Rogers. His remarkable tale of survival captured the public imagination and inspired Daniel Defoe's novel 'Robinson Crusoe'. Selkirk's experiences provided valuable insights into isolation, self-reliance, and human endurance. After his rescue, he returned to England, where he recounted his adventures to wide acclaim. He later served in the Royal Navy but died at sea on December 13, 1721. Selkirk is remembered as a real-life prototype for one of literature's greatest castaways.

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius was born in 1794 in Erlangen, Germany. He accompanied Johann Baptist von Spix on a pioneering expedition to Brazil from 1817 to 1820, collecting over 6,000 plant specimens. Martius meticulously documented the rich biodiversity of the Amazon and Atlantic forests, later publishing his monumental 'Flora Brasiliensis'. He served as director of the Munich Botanic Garden and promoted the study of economic botany in Europe. Martius’s work laid the groundwork for tropical botany and biogeography, earning him recognition as one of the leading naturalists of his era. He died in 1868, remembered for his adventurous spirit and scientific rigor.