John Ray

John Ray (29 November 1627 – 17 January 1705) was an English naturalist widely regarded as one of the earliest of the English parson-naturalists. Until 1670, he wrote his name as John Wray. From then on, he used 'Ray', after "having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him".

He published important works on botany, zoology, and natural theology. His classification of plants in his Historia Plantarum, was an important step towards modern taxonomy. Ray rejected the system of dichotomous division by which species were classified according to a pre-conceived, either/or type system, and instead classified plants according to similarities and differences that emerged from observation. He was the first to give a biological definition of the term species.

Early life

John Ray was born in the village of Black Notley in Essex. He is said to have been born in the smithy, his father having been the village blacksmith. He was sent at the age of sixteen to Cambridge University: studying at Trinity College and Catharine Hall. His tutor at Trinity was James Duport, and his intimate friend and fellow-pupil the celebrated Isaac Barrow. Ray was chosen minor fellow of Trinity in 1649, and later major fellow. He held many college offices, becoming successively lecturer in Greek (1651), mathematics (1653), and humanity (1655), praelector (1657), junior dean (1657), and college steward (1659 and 1660); and according to the habit of the time, he was accustomed to preach in his college chapel and also at Great St Mary's, long before he took holy orders on 23 December 1660. Among these sermons were his discourses on The wisdom of God manifested in the works of the creation, and Deluge and Dissolution of the World. Ray was also highly regarded as a tutor. He communicated his own passion for natural history to several pupils, of whom Francis Willughby is by far the most famous.

John Ray (disambiguation)

John Ray may refer to:

See also

John Ray (American football)

John W. Ray (June 4, 1926 – November 14, 2007) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at John Carroll University from 1959 to 1963 and at the University of Kentucky from 1969 to 1972, compiling a career college football record of 39–39.

Ray was a native of Detroit, Michigan and grew up in South Bend, Indiana. He played football at Notre Dame and at Olivet College. After graduating Ray was the head football coach at Sturgis High School and Three Rivers High School, both in Michigan, and then was an assistant coach at the University of Detroit and head coach at John Carroll University from 1959 to 1963.

From 1964 to 1968 Ray served as an assistant coach and defensive coordinator at Notre Dame under Ara Parseghian. He oversaw a 4-4-3 defense that gave up a measly 3.8 points a game in 1966, leading Notre Dame to an undefeated national championship that season.

Ray became the head coach at the University of Kentucky in late 1968, replacing Charlie Bradshaw. In his second game, Kentucky upset quarterback Archie Manning's highly regarded Ole Miss team, which was ranked #8 in the AP poll, by a score of 10–9. Ray also coached the Wildcats to a 16–3 win over #13 ranked Kansas State in 1970. The Wildcats also lost close games to ranked teams such as #9 Tennessee (31–26 in 1969), at #5 Ole Miss (20–17, 1970), at #15 LSU (14–7, 1970) and #12 LSU (17–13, 1971). However, Ray's teams played very solid defense but consistently lacked the players to play well on both sides of the ball. Over his four years as head coach, Kentucky won only 10 games while losing 33. In 1969 Kentucky finished 2–8; in 1970, 2–9; in 1971 and 1972 the Wildcats' final record was 3–8 each season. Ray's contract was not renewed after the 1972 season and he was replaced by Fran Curci.

John Ray (footballer)

John Walter Ray (born 21 November 1968) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a defender for Colchester United.

Career

Born in Newmarket, Ray was a regular in the Colchester United youth teams and reserves, and was offered a short-term professional contract with the option of a further year towards the end of his apprenticeship with the club in the 1987–88 season after impressing manager Roger Brown. Having sat on the substitutes bench for a number of games, Ray finally played his one and only Football League game on 30 January 1988, as a substitute for Tony English, where he handled the ball to concede a penalty and allow Scarborough to score their third in a 3–1 defeat for Colchester at the McCain Stadium.

Following his solitary appearance, he went out on loan to Wycombe Wanderers alongside fellow youth product Scott Young before he was released by Colchester on his return. He subsequently joined a host of Essex-based non-league clubs, including Aveley, Barking, Billericay Town, Ford United, Grays Athletic, Romford and Tilbury.