Hermann Wagner (23 June 1840 – 18 June 1929) was a German

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

and

cartographer Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...

who was a native of

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

. He was the son of

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...

Rudolf Wagner (1805–1864) and brother to

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Adolph Wagner (1835–1917). Wagner received his education at the Universities of

Göttingen Göttingen (, ; ; ) is a college town, university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the Capital (political), capital of Göttingen (district), the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. According to the 2022 German census, t ...

and

. He wrote a doctoral thesis on the determination of the surface of brains, among his objects of research the brain of the mathematician

Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; ; ; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician, astronomer, geodesist, and physicist, who contributed to many fields in mathematics and science. He was director of the Göttingen Observatory and ...

. From 1864 to 1876, he taught classes in mathematics and natural history at the Ernestine Gymnasium, Gotha. When the Freies Deutsches Hochstift (Free German Foundation) was founded in 1859, Wagner was one of its 56 founding members. In 1868, Wagner began work for the publishing firm ''

Justus Perthes Johann Georg Justus Perthes (11 September 1749 – 2 May 1816) was a Germans, German publisher and founder of Justus Perthes (publishing company), the publishing house that bears his name. Life He was born in the Thuringian town of Rudolstadt, t ...

'' as an editor in the statistical section of the ''Gothaer Almanack''. Beginning in 1872, with Ernst Behm, he was editor of the geographical/statistical review ''Die Bevolkerung der Erde''. In 1876, he got the first chair of geography at the

University of Königsberg The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in Duchy of Prussia, which was a fief of Poland. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant Reformation, Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke A ...

, and kept the same position from 1880 until 1920 at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen (, commonly referred to as Georgia Augusta), is a Public university, public research university in the city of Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1734 ...

as successor to Johann Eduard Wappäus. From 1879 to 1920, he was editor of the ''Geographisches Jahrbuch'' In 1883–84, he published a new edition of Hermann Guthe's ''Lehrbuch der Geographie''. He is also associated with the ''Sydow-Wagner Methodischer Schulatlas'', a school

atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

that is named in conjunction with cartographer Emil von Sydow. Wagner was member of the

German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina The German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (), in short Leopoldina, is the national academy of Germany, and is located in Halle (Saale). Founded on 1 January 1652, based on academic models in Italy, it was originally named the ''Academi ...

since 1878; in 1908 he was awarded the ''Carl-Ritter-Medal'' and in 1910 the

Cullum Geographical Medal The Cullum Geographical Medal is one of the oldest awards of the American Geographical Society. It was established in the will of George Washington Cullum, the vice president of the Society, and is awarded "to those who distinguish themselves by ...

.Cullum Geograhical Medal: ''Recipients''
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Hermann German geographers German cartographers Academic staff of the University of Göttingen Academic staff of the University of Königsberg University of Erlangen–Nuremberg alumni People from Erlangen 1840 births 1929 deaths Recipients of the Cullum Geographical Medal Founding members of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift