Daniel Solander

Daniel Carl Solander (February 19, 1733 - May 16, 1782) was a Swedish botanist.

Solander was born in Piteå, Sweden and was the son of a Lutheran rector. He studied under Linnaeus at Uppsala University and travelled to England in 1760 to promote Linnaeus' new system of classification. He was an assistant librarian at the British Museum from 1763, and elected to the Royal Society in the following year. Afterwards Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum.

In 1768 he was employed by Joseph Banks to join him on James Cook's first voyage to the Pacific on board the Endeavour.

On their return in 1771 he became Banks' secretary and librarian and lived in his house at Soho Square. In 1772 he accompanied Banks on his voyage to Iceland, the Faroes and the Orkney Islands.

Solander invented the book-form box, the Solander box which continues to be used in libraries and archives, as the most suitable way of storing prints and drawings, herbarium materials and some manuscripts.