Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz (1 November 1793 – 7 May 1831)
[Sterling (1997)] was a
Baltic German physician,
naturalist, and
entomologist
Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as ara ...
. He was one of the earliest scientific explorers of the Pacific region, making significant collections of flora and fauna in Alaska, California, and Hawaii.
Biography
Eschscholtz was born in the
Livonian city of
Dorpat, then part of the
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 ...
. His parents, Johann Gottfried and Katherine Hedwig Ziegler Eschscholtz were ethnic
Baltic Germans
Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly decline ...
.
He studied medicine and zoology at the
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 ...
and served as an assistant to
Carl Friedrich von Ledebour, a professor of botany.
[McKelvey] Eschscholtz received a medical degree in 1815.
First voyage
On the recommendation of Ledebour, Eschscholtz served as surgeon and naturalist on the Russian expeditionary ship ''Rurik'' under the command of
Otto von Kotzebue
Otto von Kotzebue (russian: О́тто Евста́фьевич Коцебу́, tr. ; – ) was a Russian officer and navigator in the Imperial Russian Navy. He was born in Reval. He was known for his explorations of Oceania.
Early life ...
.
[Daum (2019)] From 1815 to 1818 the expedition circumnavigated the globe for the purposes of seeking a
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the ...
and exploring the lands bordering the Pacific Ocean. In addition to Eschscholtz, the scientific team included botanist
Adelbert von Chamisso
Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 178121 August 1838) was a German poet and botanist, author of ''Peter Schlemihl'', a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Bonc ...
and artist
Louis Choris.
[JSTOR]
The expedition left
Kronstadt, Russia on 30 June 1815, stopping at the Canary Islands in September and then crossing the Atlantic to Santa Catarina, Brazil. They passed Cape Horn in January 1816 and sailed north for several months to reach
Kamchatka in July. From there they spent the rest of 1816 visiting the Aleutian Islands, California, and Hawaii. At each stop Eschscholtz collected specimens and recorded his observations of the local flora and fauna. Eschscholtz and Chamisso worked well together and became good friends. When Kotzebue became ill in 1817, they cut short a planned return to the Arctic and headed home, stopping again in Hawaii and then in the Philippines before ending their voyage at St. Petersburg in August 1818.
Kotzebue published a three-volume account of the expedition, including reports from Chamisso and Eschscholtz. Their natural history collections were described in the journals ''Horae physicae Berolinenses'' (1820), the ''Memoires de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Petersbourg'' (1826) and ''Linnaea'' (between 1826 and 1836). Eschscholtz's botanical collections from California were published under the title ''Descriptiones plantarum novae Californiae, adjectis florum exoticorum analysibus'' (1826).
This was the first scientific description of California's flora and the first reference to California in the title of a scientific paper.
[Beidleman (2006)] He also published some of his entomological finds in ''Entomographien'' (1822).
After his first voyage, Eschscholtz married Christine Friedrike Ledebour and became an assistant professor at the University of Dorpat in 1819. He was later appointed director of the university's zoological museum in 1822.
Second voyage
In 1823, Kotzebue was commissioned to return to the North Pacific to resupply Kamchatka and then proceed to Alaska to protect the
Russian American Company from smugglers. Eschscholtz accepted an offer to participate in this second voyage and left Kronstadt on 28 July 1823 aboard the ''Predpriaetie'' (''Enterprise''). Again Eschscholtz amassed significant collections of natural history specimens, especially insects. Substantial insect collections were made in Hawaii, Alaska, and California.
After a voyage of three years, the expedition returned home in July 1826.
In 1830, Kotzebue and Eschscholtz published a report of their voyage titled ''A new voyage round the world in the years 1823, 24, 25, and 26''. Eschscholtz published illustrated descriptions of the new fauna he encountered in ''Zoologischer Atlas'', 1829-1833; and provided further information in ''System der Akalephen'', 1829. He also continued to work at the University of Dorpat, serving as professor of medicine and zoology and director of the zoological museum.
Of the many insects he collected, about 100 butterflies and twenty beetles were species new to science. Eschscholtz described some of them before his death but many were described by others, including Swedish naturalist
Carl Gustaf Mannerheim
Carl Gustaf Mannerheim may refer to:
* Carl Gustaf Mannerheim (naturalist) (1797–1854), Finnish entomologist and governor
* Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim
Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim (, ; 4 June 1867 – 27 January 1951) was a Finnish ...
, French entomologist
Pierre François Marie Auguste Dejean, and Russian entomologist
Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim.
Eschscholtz died on 7 May 1831 at the age of 37.
Legacy
His friend and colleague, Adelbert von Chamisso, named the
California poppy
''Eschscholzia californica'', the California poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an ornamental pla ...
(''Eschscholzia californica'') in his honor. Kotzebue named an island in the Marshall Islands as Eschscholtz Atoll. This was renamed in 1946 to
Bikini Atoll. Kotzebue also named a small bay east of Kotzebue Sound, Alaska after
Eschscholtz.
Most of his collections were left to the University of Dorpat Museum and the Imperial Museum of Moscow.
See also
*
:Taxa named by Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz
*
European and American voyages of scientific exploration
*
List of Baltic German scientists
Notes
References
*
*
* Essig, E. O. (1931) ''History of Entomology''.
*
* Pont, A. C. (1995). ''The dipterist C. R. W. Wiedemann (1770–1840). His life, work and collections''. Steenstrupia 21: 125 - 154.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Eschscholtz, Johann Friedrich Von
1793 births
1831 deaths
Scientists from Tartu
People from Kreis Dorpat
Baltic-German people
American colonial writers
Botanists active in the Pacific
Botanists active in North America
Botanists active in California
Botanists with author abbreviations
Coleopterists
German explorers
19th-century German physicians
German naturalists
German entomologists
19th-century botanists from the Russian Empire
Explorers from the Russian Empire
Russian explorers of the Pacific
19th-century physicians from the Russian Empire
People of Russian America
1810s in Alta California
1820s in Alta California
19th-century German botanists
19th-century German zoologists
19th-century explorers
University of Tartu alumni
University of Tartu faculty