Nicknamed the  Bird Man, English artist John Gould is known for his creation of 2,999 hand-colored lithographic plates of birds and animals. With no formal university training, Gould was a self-taught artist. Throughout his career, he traveled all over the world to Asia, Australia and even the East Indies in search of different types of birds and plants, including: hummingbirds, toucans and birds of paradise. His collections of natural history plates are considered some of the finest illustrations of birds ever created, and in his day, they could only be purchased by the wealthiest of patrons. Though Gould died in 1881, his legacy lives on forever and to commemorate his success, he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1843 to commemorate his contributions to the realms of art and science.