Prospero Alpini

Prospero Alpini was a Venetian physician and botanist. He travelled around Egypt and served as the fourth prefect in charge of the botanical garden of Padua. He wrote several botanical treatises which covered exotic plants of economic and medicinal value. His description of coffee and banana plants are considered the oldest in European literature. The ginger-family genus Alpinia was named in his honour by Carolus Linnaeus.

23 November 1553

Born on the same birth day (23 November): Alan Paul • Ali Shariati • Andrew Goodman (activist) • Daniel Brewster • Danny Hoch • Eddy Kim • Erté • Guy Davenport • Johannes Diderik van der Waals • John Coleman (Australian footballer) • Kurupt • Luis Tiant • Manuel Fraga • Pope Clement IV • Snooki • Tony Pond

Born in the same month (November 1553): Roger Wilbraham