RAY, JOHN

born Nov. 29, 1627, Black Notley, Essex, Eng. died Jan. 17, 1705, Black Notley Ray also spelled (until 1670) Wray leading 17th-century English naturalist and botanist who contributed significantly to progress in taxonomy. His enduring legacy to botany was the establishment of species as the ultimate unit of taxonomy. Additional reading The definitive study is the biography by Charles E. Raven, John Ray, Naturalist, 2nd ed. (1950, reissued 1986). Richard S. Westfall, Science and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England (1958, reissued 1973), examines the intellectual background to his thought.