Conrad Quensel (10 December 1767 – 22 August 1806) was a Swedish

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

Biography

Quensel was born at Åsbo in

Skåne Scania ( ), also known by its native name of Skåne (), is the southernmost of the historical provinces of Sweden, provinces () of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous w ...

, Sweden. He was the son of Jakob Quensel (1724–1802) and Ulrika Benedikta Billberg (1739–1806). His father was a rector at

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

and later senior clerk in the parish of Ausås. He was named after his grandfather, noted astronomer (1676–1732). In 1789, Quensel became a student at the

University of Lund Lund University () is a public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the ...

and gained his Magisterexamen in

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in 1787. In 1789 he undertook a study trip to Lapland, where he described several new species of

insect Insects (from Latin ') are Hexapoda, hexapod invertebrates of the class (biology), class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (Insect morphology#Head, head, ...

s. Starting from 1791, he was an employee of the Botanic Garden at the University of Uppsala. In 1797 he became a

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

and after 1798 he became Director of the Natural Cabinet ('' Naturkabinetts'') at the

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

in Stockholm. Later he became a

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

and

natural history Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

teacher at the

Military Academy Karlberg Military Academy Karlberg (, MHS K) is a Swedish military academy, since its inauguration in 1792 in operation in the Karlberg Palace in Solna, just north of central Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urb ...

, where he received in 1805 the title of professor. Quensel wrote the largest part of the text of the first four volumes of the book ''Svensk Botanik'' (1802–1843) with copper plates by Johan Wilhelm Palmstruch (1770–1811). He also wrote the text of the first volume of ''Svensk Zoologi'' (1806–1809) and parts of . Leonardo Gyllenhal, C. H. Boheman; ''et entomologis aliis illustratae'' by

Carl Johan Schönherr Carl Johan Schönherr (10 June 1772 – 28 March 1848) was a Swedish people, Swedish entomologist who revised the Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy of beetles, including weevils by examining all the descriptions of beetles since the time of Linnaeus. H ...

(1772–1848). Conrad Quensel died at age 38 at

Karlberg Palace Karlberg Palace () is a palace by the Karlberg Canal in Solna Municipality in Sweden, adjacent to Stockholm's Vasastaden district. The palace, built in 1630,Solna: Huvudsta today houses the Military Academy Karlberg. In the palace park are fou ...

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

References

External links

''Svensk botanik''

''Svensk zoologi''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quensel, Conrad 1767 births 1806 deaths People from Ängelholm Municipality Lund University alumni Swedish civil servants Swedish entomologists 18th-century Swedish educators