Jeong Yakjeon

Jeong Yak-jeon was a scholar-official and Silhak (practical learning) thinker of the late Joseon period, and the elder brother of the renowned scholar Jeong Yak-yong. Implicated in the persecution of Catholics, he was exiled to Heuksando, a remote island, where he directly observed the fish and marine life of the surrounding waters and compiled an encyclopedic work, the Jasan Eobo. The book stands as one of Joseon's foremost studies of marine biology and reflects the empirical, investigative spirit of Silhak.