Alexander Eduard Friedrich Eversmann (23 January 1794 – 14 April 1860) was a Prussian

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

and

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

Early life and education

Eversmann was born in

Westphalia Westphalia (; ; ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the region is almost identical with the h ...

on 23 January 1794 and studied at the universities of

Marburg Marburg (; ) is a college town, university town in the States of Germany, German federal state () of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf Districts of Germany, district (). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has ...

, Halle,

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and

Dorpat Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

. He received his degree of Philosophy and Master of Liberal Sciences at Halle in 1814, and at Dorpat graduated as a Doctor of Medicine and Surgery in 1817. During the next three years he travelled in the southern

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

, collecting specimens and sending them to

Hinrich Lichtenstein Martin H nrich Carl Lichtenstein (10 January 1780 – 2 September 1857) was a German physician, List of explorers, explorer, botanist and zoologist. He explored parts of southern Africa and collected natural history specimens extensively and ...

at the university of Berlin.

Career

Eversmann had long planned to travel into

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

to collect natural history specimens. He had studied the languages, customs and

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

religion of the peoples of the area. In 1820 he set off for

Bukhara Bukhara ( ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan by population, with 280,187 residents . It is the capital of Bukhara Region. People have inhabited the region around Bukhara for at least five millennia, and t ...

disguised as a merchant, a journey he described in ''Reise Orenburg nach Buchara'' (1823), with a natural history appendix by Lichtenstein. In 1825 he travelled with a military expedition to

Khiva Khiva ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Xiva, Хива, ; other names) is a district-level city of approximately 93,000 people in Khorazm Region, Uzbekistan. According to archaeological data, the city was established around 2,500 years ago. In 1997, Khiva celebr ...

. In 1828 he was appointed professor of

zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...

and

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

at the university of Kazan. During the next thirty years he wrote numerous publications and is considered the pioneer of research into the flora and fauna of the southeast steppes of Russia between the

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

and the Urals. His name is commemorated in a number of birds, such as Eversmann's redstart, butterflies, including Eversmann's parnassian and moths, such as Eversmann's rustic. A Russian entomological magazine is named ''Eversmannia''. In the scientific field of

herpetology Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

he is best known for having described two new

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

lizard Lizard is the common name used for all Squamata, squamate reptiles other than snakes (and to a lesser extent amphisbaenians), encompassing over 7,000 species, ranging across all continents except Antarctica, as well as most Island#Oceanic isla ...

s, '' Darevskia praticola'' and '' Darevskia saxicola''. A species of lizard, '' Crossobamon eversmanni'', is named in his honor.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Eversmann", p. 86).

Works

*1832. Lepidopterorum species nonnullae novae Gubernium Orenburgense incolentes. ''Nouvelles Memoires de la Societe imperiela des Naturalistes de Moscou''. 2: 347–354, 2 cpls. *1841. Nachricht uber einige noch unbekannte Schmetterlinge des ostlichen Russlands. ''Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou'' 14(l): 18–33, 1 cpl. * (families Tenthredinidae and Uroceratae) *1848. Beschreibung einiger neuen Falter Russlands. ''Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou''. 21 (3): 205–232. * (family Sphegidae) *1851. Description de quelques nouvelles espèces de Lépidoptères de la Russie. ''Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou''. 24 (2): 610–644. *1854. Beiträge zur Lepidopterologie Russlands. ''Bull. Soc. imp. Nat. Moscou.'' 27 (3): 174–205, 1 pl.

References

External links

*Eversmann E (1840)
"''Mittheilungen ueber einige neue und einige weniger gekannte Säugethiere Russlands'' "
''Bulletin de la Société impériale des Naturalistes de Moscou'' 13 (1): 3-59. (in German).

Early life and education

Career

Works

References

External links

Further reading