Portrait of John Gould

Birthday profile

John Gould

John Gould, English ornithologist and illustrator (died 1881)

Born
September 14, 1804
Died
February 3, 1881
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1804

About John Gould

John Gould was an English ornithologist who published monographs on birds, illustrated by plates produced by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and several other artists, including Edward Lear, Henry Constantine Richter, Joseph Wolf and William Matthew Hart. Because of his 1840s seven-volume series The Birds of Australia and its updates he has been considered the father of bird study in Australia, and the Gould League in Australia is named after him. His identification of the birds now nicknamed "Darwin's finches" played a role in the inception of Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Gould's work is referenced in Charles Darwin's book, On the Origin of Species. In 1818, Gould Snr became foreman in the Royal Gardens of Windsor. Gould became an apprentice for 6 years under the care of J.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

The world when John Gould was born

John Gould was born in 1804. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineLewis and Clark expedition begins
  • Technology milestoneMorphine isolated for the first time
  • World population~920M

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderThomas Jefferson
  • U.S. population6.1M

1804 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in John Gould's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure18042026
Population6.1M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.