Education
He began his studies in Toulouse, later returning to Montpellier, where he studied medicine at the university.
He began his studies in Toulouse, later returning to Montpellier, where he studied medicine at the university.
Gouan was a pioneer of Linnaean taxonomy in France. Here he was a student of François Boissier de Sauvages de Lacroix (1706–1767), an ardent supporter of Carolus Linnaeus. In August 1752, Gouan received his doctorate under the chairmanship of Antoine Magnol (1676–1759), and subsequently practiced medicine at Saint-Éloi Hospital in Montpellier.
Soon afterwards his interest turned to natural history.
In 1762 Gouan published a plant catalog of the botanical garden at Montpellier titled Hortus regius monspeliensis. This publication was the first French botanical work that followed the binomial nomenclature of Linnaeus.
In 1765 he penned Flora Monspeliaca, and became titulaire at the Montpellier Academy. In 1770 he published an important ichthyological treatise called Historia Piscicum, a work that expanded the number of fish genera that existed in the Linnaean system.
During his career he maintained correspondence with several learned scientists and thinkers, which included in addition to Linnaeus.
Albrecht von Haller (1708–1777), Jean Guillaume Bruguière (1750–1798), Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778), Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828), et al. Gouan is credited with planting the first ginkgo biloba in France, a tree that was given to him by naturalist Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet (1761–1807). Today this tree is reportedly still standing in the botanical garden of Montpellier.
During his career he amassed a large collection of algae that was harvested around Marseille.
Taxa with the specific epithet of gouanii commemorate his name, an example being Ranunculus gouanii (Gouan"s Buttercup).
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Linnean Society of London]
In 1766 he succeeded Sauvages de Lacroix at the Faculty of Medicine, and in 1783 became a foreign member of the Linnean Society of London. In 1790, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.