Nathanael Gottfried Leske (22 October 1751 in

Muskau Bad Muskau (; formerly ''Muskau'', hsb, Mužakow, pl, Mużaków, cs, Mužakov) is a spa town in the historic Upper Lusatia region in Germany, at the border with Poland. It is part of the Görlitz district in the State of Saxony. It is lo ...

– 25 November 1786 in

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approximat ...

) was a German natural scientist and

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

. After his studies at ''Bergakademie'' of Freiberg in

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...

and the ''Franckeschen Stiftungen'' in

Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...

, Leske became a special professor of natural history at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December ...

in 1775. From 1777 to 1786 he taught

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

at this university, and in 1786 he was called to the chair of financial science and economics at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

. However, he had a fatal accident on his way to Marburg. Throughout his life Leske corresponded with his teacher and close friend of

Abraham Gottlob Werner Abraham Gottlob Werner (; 25 September 174930 June 1817) was a German geologist who set out an early theory about the stratification of the Earth's crust and propounded a history of the Earth that came to be known as Neptunism. While most tene ...

, famous

and mineralogist at

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. He also edited the ''Leipziger Magazin zur Naturkunde, Mathematik und Oekonomie'' (1781-1789) Leipziger Magazin
with Christlieb Benedict Funk and Carl Friedrich Hindenburg. Leske possessed an extensive

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...

and natural history collection called the

Leskean Cabinet The Leskean Cabinet is an 18th-century mineral and natural history collection conserved in the Natural History Museum in Dublin. It is a cabinet of mineralogy which was assembled by Nathaniel Gottfried Leske. History Purchase Early in 1792 a ...

, which was arranged after his death by

Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten Dietrich Ludwig Gustav Karsten (5 April 1768 – 20 May 1810) was a German mineralogist. Among the most notable of Karsten's writings is a mineralogy book published in 1789 when he was only 21 years old. In later years Karsten held senior governme ...

and later, in 1792, sold to the ''Dublin Society''. The collection included other natural history specimens many from the collections of

Johann Friedrich Gmelin , fields = , workplaces = University of GöttingenUniversity of Tübingen , alma_mater = University of Tübingen , doctoral_advisor = Philipp Friedrich Gmelin Ferdinand Christoph Oetinger , academic_advisors = , docto ...

and

Johan Christian Fabricius Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is co ...

. These specimens are now in the

National Museum of Ireland The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thr ...

Works

*''Ichthyologiae Lipsiensis specimen''. Lipsiae: Siegfrief Lebrecht Crusius, 1774. *with

Jacob Theodor Klein Jacob Theodor Klein (nickname ''Plinius Gedanensium''; 15 August 1685 – 27 February 1759) was a German jurist, historian, botanist, zoologist, mathematician and diplomat in service of Polish King August II the Strong. Life Klein was born on ...

''Additamenta ad Jacob Theodor Klein Naturalem dispositionim echinodermatum et lucubratiunculam de aculeis echinorum marinorum'' Lipsiae Ex Officina Gleditschiana, 1778
BHL
*''Anfangsgrunde der Naturgeschichte. Zwote icverbesserte und viel vermehrte Ausgabe''. Leipzig: Siegfried Lebrecht Crusius, 1784. * ''Reise durch Sachsen in Rüksicht der Naturgeschichte und Ökonomie unternommen und beschrieben''. Leipzig: J.G. Müllersche Buchhandlung, 1785 * ''Museum Leskeanum'' Leipzig: J.G. Müller, 1789
BHL

References

* Werner Andert und Hans Prescher: Nathanael Gottfried Leske (1751-1786). Zum 225. Geburtstag des ersten Erforschers der Naturkunde und Ökonomie der Oberlausitz und Theoretikers der Landwirtschaft. In: S''ächsische Heimatblätter'' Jg. 23, 1977, S. 73-89 (m. Bild). * Jan Solta: Die Freundschaft Nathanael Gottfried Leskes mit Johann Christian Schubarts 1780-1786. In: Jan Solta: ''Wirtschaft, Kultur und Nationalität. Ein Studienband zur sorbischen Geschichte''. Bautzen 1990, S. 56-75 = Schriftenreihe des Instituts für sorbische Volksforschung in Bautzen Bd. 58. *Richard I Vane-Wright, 1975. The butterflies named by J.F. Gmelin (Lepidoptera: Rhopalocera). ''Bulletin of the British Museum (Natural History), Entomology'' 32: 17–64.

External links

Zoologica

Göttingen State and University Library The Göttingen State and University Library (german: Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen or SUB Göttingen) is the library for Göttingen University as well as for the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and is the state l ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leske, Nathaniel Gottfried 1751 births 1786 deaths People from Bad Muskau 18th-century German geologists German entomologists People from the Electorate of Saxony Leipzig University faculty People from Görlitz (district) 18th-century agronomists Cameralists