burnet, hardy perennial herb of the family Rosaceae (rose) found in temperate regions, usually with white or greenish flowers. The European species are sometimes cultivated for the leaves, which are used in salads, for flavoring, and formerly as a poultice to stop bleeding—hence the botanical name Sanguisorba [Lat.,=absorbing blood]. Burnet is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Rosales, family Rosaceae.

Burnet, William, 1688-1729, English colonial governor in America; son of Gilbert Burnet. As governor of New York and New Jersey (1720-28), he advocated extending the trade with Native Americans, thereby seeking to bind the Iroquois to the British and keep them from French influence—a move that was to be of significance in the French and Indian Wars. He had the first English fort on the Great Lakes built at Oswego. His efforts to regulate trade were opposed by Albany merchants who made great profit in selling English goods to French traders. Burnet was embroiled in arguments with the assembly over policies and finance. After he dissolved the assembly in 1727, he was transferred to govern Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

Burnet, William, 1730-91, political leader in the American Revolution, b. near the present Elizabeth, N.J.; father of David G. Burnet. A physician practicing in Newark, Burnet was chairman of the Revolutionary committee of safety there. He set up (1775) a military hospital and helped to furnish troops and supplies for the Continental army. He became surgeon general of the army for the eastern district and was also a member of the Continental Congress in 1776 and in 1780.

Burnet, Thomas, c.1635-1715, English cleric and scientist, b. Croft, in Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Northallerton and Cambridge. Following travels in Europe, Burnet published in 1681 the first two parts of his theory of the formation of the earth under the title Telluris theoria sacra (English version Sacred Theory of the Earth, 1684), in which he held that at the time of the Deluge the earth was crushed like an egg, the fragments of the shell becoming mountains. Burnet's book attracted much attention, and his description of the creation of mountains and his stress on the account of creation in Genesis influenced the new science of geology for a hundred years. In his Archaeologiae philosophicae (1692) he treated the account of the fall of man as an allegory.

Burnet, Sir Macfarlane, 1899-1985, Australian virologist and physician. He was resident pathologist (1923-24) at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and a Beit fellow (1926-27) at the Lister Institute, London. He became assistant director (1928) and director (1944) of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. From 1944 he was professor of experimental medicine at the Univ. of Melbourne. He lectured at several universities in the United States, including Harvard (1944), Johns Hopkins (1950), and Vanderbilt (1958). An expert on viruses and virus diseases, Burnet made important contributions to the understanding of influenza and the development of immunity against it. He shared the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with P. B. Medawar for their work in immunological tolerances, specifically the reactions of the body to the transplantation of foreign living tissues. His writings include Natural History of Infectious Disease (3d ed. 1962) and Viruses and Man (2d ed. 1955).

Burnet, Gilbert, 1643-1715, Scottish bishop and writer. He studied in Scotland, England, and abroad, held minor ecclesiastical office in Scotland, and was appointed (1669) professor of divinity at Glasgow Univ. He went to London in 1673 and was lecturer at St. Clements until his defense of his friend Lord William Russell made it unsafe for him in England after the Rye House Plot executions. During James II's reign Burnet's anti-Catholic writing and preaching barred him from court, and he found favor and friendship with William of Orange at The Hague. Accompanying William to England, he was a trusted adviser to William III and Mary and was made bishop of Salisbury. His celebrated History of My Own Times (published only 1723-24; ed. by M. J. Routh, 6 vol., 1833) is fiercely biased against James II, but it is also an informative contemporary source for the period. Burnet made a translation of Sir Thomas More's Utopia. He also wrote History of the Reformation in England (3 vol., 1679-1714; abridged ed. 1719), notable for its understanding of the economic, social, and cultural causes and effects of the Reformation, and many lesser works on history and theology.

Burnet, David Gouverneur, 1788-1870, provisional president of Texas (1836), b. Newark, N.J.; son of William Burnet (1730-91). He went to Texas c.1817, and his legal training enabled him to become a spokesman for the American settlers there as dissension with the Mexican government grew. Appointed (1834) a district judge, he opposed the measures of the Mexican government and was gradually led to favor the independence of Texas from Mexico. In 1836 he drew up the declaration of independence at the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where he was made president ad interim of Texas. His eight-month administration in the chaotic times during and after the revolution (see Texas) was not effective. He quarreled bitterly with Sam Houston and thereafter opposed him in politics. Burnet was vice president under Mirabeau B. Lamar, was defeated by Houston for the presidency in 1841, and was chosen in 1866 (because he had opposed secession) U.S. Senator from Texas in the Reconstruction era, but was denied his seat.

(born Sept. 3, 1899, Traralgon, Vic., Austl.—died Aug. 31, 1985, Melbourne, Vic.) Australian physician and virologist. Burnet received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne. He later discovered a method for identifying bacteria by the viruses (bacteriophages) that attack them, and he shared a 1960 Nobel Prize with Peter Medawar for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance to tissue transplants. He was knighted in 1951.

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(born Sept. 3, 1899, Traralgon, Vic., Austl.—died Aug. 31, 1985, Melbourne, Vic.) Australian physician and virologist. Burnet received his medical degree from the University of Melbourne. He later discovered a method for identifying bacteria by the viruses (bacteriophages) that attack them, and he shared a 1960 Nobel Prize with Peter Medawar for the discovery of acquired immunological tolerance to tissue transplants. He was knighted in 1951.

Learn more about Burnet, Sir (Frank) Macfarlane with a free trial on Britannica.com.