William Baird FRS FLS (Eccles, Berwickshire, 1803 – January 27, 1872) was a Scottish physician and zoologist, best known for his 1850 work, Natural History of British Entomostraca.
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Baird studied at the High School of Edinburgh, before studying medicine at the universities of Edinburgh, Dublin, and Paris.[1] He was a surgeon for the East India Company from 1823 to 1833, travelling to India, China and other countries, and taking a keen interest in those countries' natural history.[1] He helped found the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club in 1829, and contributed regularly to its publications.[1] Baird practised as a doctor in London until 1941, when he joined the zoology department of the British Museum (now part of the Natural History Museum).[1]
Baird's most important work, the Natural History of British Entomostraca was published by the Ray Society in 1850.[1] He published many other papers on diverse topics, and in 1858 he published a popular Cyclopædia of the Natural Sciences.[1] He was a Fellow of the Linnean Society, a member of the Imperial and Royal Botanical Society of Vienna and a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1]