John Buchanan (1819–1898): New Zealand’s first scientific illustrator

John Buchanan was New Zealand’s first locally-based official scientific illustrator, preparing illustrations for a wide range of scientific publications. He was also an experienced botanist, publishing papers on the local flora. From 1862 until his retirement in 1885 Buchanan worked as an assistant to James Hector, undertaking fieldwork and a variety of technical projects. From 1868 onwards he undertook the time-consuming task of preparing illustrations for the first eighteen volumes of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute.

约翰·布坎南（John Buchanan）是新西兰首位本土官方科学插画师（scientific illustrator），曾为各类科学出版物绘制插画。他同时亦是经验丰富的植物学家（botanist），发表过多篇关于当地植物区系（flora）的学术论文。1862年至1885年退休前，布坎南始终担任詹姆斯·赫克托（James Hector）的助手，开展野外考察（fieldwork）并参与各类技术项目。自1868年起，他承接了一项耗时繁重的工作：为《新西兰学会汇刊（Transactions of the New Zealand Institute）》的前十八卷绘制科学插画。