Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдорович Ми́ддендорф;
tr. ; 18 August 1815 – 24 January 1894) was a
zoologist
Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...
and explorer of
Baltic German and
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also
*
...
extraction. He is known for his expedition 1843–45 to the extreme north and east of Siberia, describing the effects of
permafrost
Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
on the spread of animals and plants.
Early life
Middendorff's mother Sophia Johanson (1782–1868), the daughter of an
Estonian
Estonian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe
* Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent
* Estonian language
* Estonian cuisine
* Estonian culture
See also
*
...
farmer, had been sent to
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
for education by her parents. There she met with the future director of the
St. Petersburg Pedagogical Institute, Theodor Johann von Middendorff (1776–1856), whose father was a
Baltic German pastor in
Karuse,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
. As the two young people came from different social ranks and were unable to marry each other, their daughter Anette (b. 1809) and son Alexander were born out of wedlock. Alexander was born on 18 August 1815 in St. Petersburg, but could not be baptized until six months later in the Estonian Lutheran Congregation of St. Petersburg, as the German Lutheran Congregation of St. Petersburg had not agreed to perform the baptism. In the accompanying paperwork, Middendorff's parents registered themselves as a married couple. In order to escape the attention of the public, the mother and son returned to Estonia, where they settled at the
Pööravere
Pööravere is a village in Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish, Pärnu County in southwestern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021)
Zoologist and explorer Alexander von Middendorff
Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (russian: Алекса́ндр Фёдо� ...
Mansion. Only in 1824, when the young Middendorff was ready to go to school, was his status legitimized when his parents finally married. (Note: Although his father Theodor was Baltic German, Middendorff's middle name is sometimes spelled as "Theodorowitsch",
[
]
a German corruption of the
Russian patronymic Федорович (Fyodorovich); "-ovich" meaning "the son of" the person (father) whose name precedes it.)
Education
Middendorff received his early education from tutors in
Reval and at a
gymnasium in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. From 1832 he pursued a medical degree at the
Imperial University of Dorpat
The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...
where his professors included
Georg Friedrich Parrot
Georg Friedrich Parrot (15 July 1767 – 8 July 1852) was a German scientist, the first rector of the Imperial University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire.
Education
Georges-Fr� ...
,
Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov
Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Никола́й Ива́нович Пирого́в; — ) was a Russian scientist, medical doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847), one of the ...
,
Hermann Martin Asmuss, and
Alexander Friedrich von Hueck. Middendorff graduated in 1837 with a dissertation (written in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
) on
polyps in the
bronchi. He then undertook further studies at the
Humboldt University of Berlin
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
,
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...
,
University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hi ...
, and
University of Breslau.
Explorer and scientist
In 1839, under the patronage of
Karl Ernst von Baer
Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn ( – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was ...
, he became assistant professor of zoology at
Kiev University
Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...
.
In the summer of 1840, Baer asked Middendorff to join his second expedition to
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...
(the first one took place in 1837). Due to stormy conditions the expedition failed to reach Novaya Zemlya, but Baer and Middendorff explored Russian and Norwegian
Lapland, as well as the
Barents and
White Sea
The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is s ...
s. Middendorff was tasked with crossing on foot the
Kola Peninsula
The Kola Peninsula (russian: Кольский полуостров, Kolsky poluostrov; sjd, Куэлнэгк нёа̄ррк) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk ...
and mapping the peninsula from
Kola
KOLA (99.9 FM) is a commercial radio station licensed to Redlands, California, and broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire radio market. It is owned by the Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation and it airs a classic hits radio form ...
to
Kandalaksha while collecting zoological and botanical material.
Baer suggested Middendorff to the
St Petersburg Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
as leader of a follow-up expedition and supplied extended expedition instructions in 1842/43 in a print-ready typescript. They comprised over 200 pages and a permafrost map of Eurasia. From 1843 to 1845, Middendorff travelled with these instructions, to the
Taymyr Peninsula and then along the coast of the
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk ( rus, Охо́тское мо́ре, Ohótskoye móre ; ja, オホーツク海, Ohōtsuku-kai) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands ...
and entered the lower
Amur River
The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...
valley (which at this time was Chinese territory). He published his findings in ''Reise in den äußersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens'' (Travels in the extreme north and east of Siberia) in German (1848–1875), which included an account of the effects of
permafrost
Permafrost is ground that continuously remains below 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years, located on land or under the ocean. Most common in the Northern Hemisphere, around 15% of the Northern Hemisphere or 11% of the global surface ...
on the spread of animals and plants. He also wrote ''Die Isepiptesen Russlands'' (1855), an account of
bird migration
Bird migration is the regular seasonal movement, often north and south along a flyway, between breeding and wintering grounds. Many species of bird migrate. Migration carries high costs in predation and mortality, including from hunting b ...
in Russia, and a monograph on molluscs, ''Beiträge zu einer Malacozoologia Rossica'' (1847–1849), in which he coined the term
radula
The radula (, ; plural radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by molluscs for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food ...
.
Baer's expedition instructions had the German title „Materialien zur Kenntniss des unvergänglichen Boden-Eises in Sibirien“ (=materials for the knowledge of the perennial ground ice in Siberia). Although print-ready in 1943, the text remained lost for more than 150 years. Thus in 2001 the discovery and annotated publication of the typescript in the library
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...
s of the
University of Giessen
University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (german: Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is named after its most famous faculty member, Justus von ...
was a scientific sensation. The full text of the expedition instructions is available online (234 pages).
The editor Lorenz King added to the
facsimile
A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of ...
reprint a preface in English, two colour permafrost maps of Eurasia. The text is introduced with detailed comments and references on additional 66 pages written by the
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...
n historian Erki Tammiksaar.
In 1870 Middendorff visited the
Baraba steppe and in 1878 the
Fergana Valley.
Personal life and death
Middendorf was married to Hedwig. His son
Ernst von Middendorff was also an ornithologist.
Middendorf died in 1894 at
Hellenorm,
Kreis Dorpat, in
Governorate of Livonia, then
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...
present-day
Valga County, Estonia.
Legacy
Middendorff's grasshopper warbler,
Cape Middendorff of
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...
,
Kodiak bear
The Kodiak bear (''Ursus arctos middendorffi''), also known as the Kodiak brown bear, sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is the largest recognized subspecies or population ...
(''Ursus arctos middendorffi''), and
Middendorff Bay
The Middendorff Bay, (russian: Залив Миддендорфа) is a deeply indented bay in the shores of the Taymyr Peninsula. It is located southwest of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago in the Kara Sea and it is open towards the west.
Geography ...
of the
Taymyr Peninsula are named after him. He coined the term
aufeis.
See also
*
List of Baltic German scientists
References
Further reading
* E. Tammiksaar, I. Stone, "Alexander von Middendorff and his expedition to Siberia (1842–1845)",
Polar Record
''Polar Record'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of Arctic and Antarctic exploration and research. It is managed by the Scott Polar Research Institute and published by Cambridge University Press. The journal w ...
43 (226): 193–216 (2007)
*Barbara and Richard Mearns, ''Audubon to Xantus, The Lives of Those Commemorated in North American Bird Names'',
{{DEFAULTSORT:Middendorff, Alexander von
1815 births
1894 deaths
Scientists from Tallinn
Baltic-German people
Estonian explorers
Explorers from the Russian Empire
Russian ornithologists
Russian zoologists
University of Tartu alumni
Humboldt University of Berlin alumni
University of Erlangen-Nuremberg alumni
University of Vienna alumni
University of Breslau alumni
Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)
Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Explorers from Saint Petersburg