Gay first went to Paris to study medicine, but he quickly abandoned this idea to become a researcher in natural history. In 1828, he went to
Chile to teach physics and natural history at a college in Santiago. In 1829, he accepted a position as a researcher for the Chilean government to carry out a scientific survey of the country. He returned to France in 1832, and gave his collections to the
Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris. His botanical specimens can now be found throughout the world, including at the
National Herbarium of Victoria (MEL),
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria. He returned to Chile in 1834 and explored the country again for four years. After having visited
Peru in 1839, he lived in Santiago, where he wrote the multi-volume
Historia fisica y politica de Chile. In 1841, Chile conferred the Chilean nationality to him, and his opus work was published by the Chilean government between 1844 and 1871. Gay returned to France in 1843, and in May, 1856, he was elected a member of the
French Academy of Sciences. He made a journey through
Russia and
Tartary from 1856 to 1858. At the end of 1858, he was sent by the
French Academy of Sciences to study the mining system of the United States. He returned to France in 1860, and in 1863, he journeyed to Chile for the last time. == Honours ==