Johann Jakob von Tschudi (25 July 1818 – 8 October 1889) was a Swiss naturalist, explorer and diplomat.

Biography

Tschudi was born in

Glarus , neighboring_municipalities= Glarus Nord, Glarus Süd, Muotathal (SZ), Innerthal (SZ) , twintowns= Wiesbaden-Biebrich (Germany) } Glarus (; gsw, Glaris; french: Glaris; it, Glarona; rm, Glaruna) is the capital of the canton of Glarus ...

to Johann Jakob Tschudi, a merchant, and Anna Maria Zwicky. He studied natural sciences and

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

at the universities of Neuchâtel,

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. In 1838 he travelled to

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, where he remained for five years exploring and collecting

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

s in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. He went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1843. In 1845 he described 18 new species of South American reptiles. Between 1857 and 1859 he visited

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and other countries in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

. In 1860 he was appointed Swiss ambassador to Brazil, remaining so until 1868, and again spent time exploring the country and collecting plants for the museums of Neuchâtel, Glarus, and

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau (; abbreviated as Freiburg i. Br. or Freiburg i. B.; Low Alemannic: ''Friburg im Brisgau''), commonly referred to as Freiburg, is an independent city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. With a population of about 230,000 (as o ...

. In 1868 he became minister to Vienna.

Peru

He wrote a textbook on Peru called ''Peruvian antiquities'' in which he recorded various aspects of Peruvian life and history. In his book he explained the various skull angles of Peruvians in the context of the Angle of Camper. Tschudi claimed that Camper's facial angles were an "important angle in anthropology", whose "greater or less opening indicates the intellectual superiority of a race, and, up to a certain point, of individuals". He went on to explain that he had obtained for his personal collection the mummified foetus of a woman at seven months found in the cave of " Huichay" ("two leagues from

Tarma '') , pushpin_map = Peru , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Region , subdivision_name1 = Junín , subdivision_type2 = Province ...

"), and included two engravings of it, to prove that the shape of the cranium of the Huancas was not due to pressures placed upon the cranium after birth for cultural reasons.

Legacy

Tschudi is commemorated in the scientific names of a species of venomous South American coral snake, ''

Micrurus tschudii ''Micrurus'' is a genus of venomous coral snakes of the family Elapidae. Geographic range Species in the genus ''Micrurus'' are endemic to the Americas. Species The following 83 species are recognized as being valid. *'' Micrurus albicinctus'' ...

''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Tschudi", p. 269). and the montane guinea pig (''Cavia tschudii''),

Works

* ''Classification der Batrachier, mit Berucksichtigung der fossilen Thiere dieser A btheilung der Reptilien'' (Neuchâtel, 1838) *''Untersuchungen über die Fauna Perus'' (St. Gall, 1844–47) * "''Reptilium conspectus quae in Republica Peruana reperiuntur et pleraque observata vel collecta sunt in itinere''". ''Archiv für Naturgeschichte'' 11 (1): 150–170. (Berlin, 1845) (in Latin) * ''Peruanische Reiseskizzen während der Jahre 1838-42'' (2 vols., 1846) * ''Die Ketchua-Sprache'' (3 vols., Vienna, 1853) * ''Reise durch die Andes von Südamerika'' (Gotha, 1860) * ''Die brasilianische Provinz Minas-Geraes'' (1863) * ''Reisen durch Südamerika'' (5 vols., 1866–69) * ''Organismus der Khets̆ua-Sprache'' (Leipzig 1884) He also edited, in association with Mariano Eduardo de Rivera, ''Antigüedades Peruanas'' (Vienna, 1851; translated by F. L. Hawks, New York, 1853).

Notes

References

External links

* * 1818 births 1889 deaths Swiss naturalists Swiss nobility Swiss ornithologists Swiss explorers Swiss Protestants People from the canton of Glarus Incan scholars Swiss diplomats Ambassadors of Switzerland to Brazil {{Switzerland-scientist-stub