Ludwig Heinrich Bojanus (16 July 1776 – 2 April 1827) was a German

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

and naturalist who spent most of his active career teaching at Vilnius University in Tsarist Russia. Bojanus was born at Bouxwiller in

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, finished his secondary education in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

and studied medicine at the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The ...

(Dr.med., 1797). In 1804 he was appointed professor of

veterinary medicine Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in animals. Along with this, it deals with animal rearing, husbandry, breeding, research on nutri ...

at the

University of Vilnius Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

, a post which he could assume only in 1806,ADB:Bojanus, Ludwig Heinrich
@ Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie adding

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in ...

to his offerings in 1814. In 1822 he was appointed

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of the university. Two years later, he returned to Darmstadt, where he died on 2 April 1827. He produced an important and wonderfully illustrated work on the anatomy of

turtle Turtles are an order of reptiles known as Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs. Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira (side necked turtles) and Cryptodira (hidden necked t ...

s, ''Anatome Testudinis Europaeae''. He was the author of several scientific discoveries, including a glandular organ in bivalvular

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is est ...

s that is now known as the organ of Bojanus. Also, he provided anatomical distinctions for the

aurochs The aurochs (''Bos primigenius'') ( or ) is an extinct cattle species, considered to be the wild ancestor of modern domestic cattle. With a shoulder height of up to in bulls and in cows, it was one of the largest herbivores in the Holocene ...

(''Bos primigenius'') and the

steppe wisent The steppe bisonSeveral literatures address the species as ''primeval bison''. or steppe wisent (''Bison'' ''priscus'')
– Y ...

(''Bison priscus''), being the binomial author of both species. In 1814 he was elected corresponding member of the

Imperial 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 ...

in St.Petersburg; in 1818 he became a member of the Imperial Leopold-Caroline Academy of Natural Sciences then in Bonn, and in 1821 was a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences ( sv, Kungliga Vetenskapsakademien) is one of the royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for prom ...

References

External links

* 1776 births 1827 deaths University of Jena alumni Rectors of Vilnius University 19th-century German zoologists Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina 19th-century German physicians 18th-century German zoologists {{Germany-med-bio-stub