Joseph Paul Gaimard

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Joseph Paul Gaimard (1796 - 1858) was a French naturalist.

Along with Jean René Constant Quoy he served as naturalist aboard the ships La Coquille under Louis Isidore Duperrey, and L'Astrolabe under the command of Jules Dumont d'Urville between 1826 and 1829. During this voyage they discovered the now extinct giant skink of Tonga Tachygia microlepis.

He was the scientific leader on La Recherche (1835-1836) during its expedition to the Arctic Sea. In 1835 Gaimard visited Iceland, returning again the following summer as the head of a scientific mission funded by the French government. Out of this trip came the 9 volume Voyage en Islande et au Groënland (8 text volumes, one of geographical illustrations), which was said at the time to be the definitive study of the islands. In 1838, he was the leader of a scientific expedition to Spitsbergen.

At least two species have been named in his honor:

• Eualus gaimardii (H. Milne Edwards, 1837)
• Byblis gaimardi (Krøyer, 1846)