Gustav Ferdinand Richard Radde (27 November 1831 – 16 March 1903) was a German

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 ...

and Siberian

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 ...

. Radde's warbler and several other species are named after him.

Biography

Radde was born in Danzig, the son of a

schoolmaster A schoolmaster, or simply master, is a male school teacher. The usage first occurred in England in the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. At that time, most schools were one-room or two-room schools and had only one or two such teacher ...

. He had little formal education, and began a career as an

apothecary ''Apothecary'' () is an Early Modern English, archaic English term for a medicine, medical professional who formulates and dispenses ''materia medica'' (medicine) to physicians, surgeons and patients. The modern terms ''pharmacist'' and, in Brit ...

. At an early age he was influenced by

Anton Menge Franz Anton Menge (15 February 1808 in Arnsberg – 27 January 1880 in Danzig) was a German entomologist. Menge was a student of Physics, Chemistry and Natural history, Natural History at the University of Bonn He became professor at the Petris ...

and became increasingly interested in natural history, and in 1852 he gave up his career and spent two years in the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

with the botanist Christian von Steven, collecting both plants and animals. He made further trips to southern Russia with Johann Friedrich von Brandt and

Karl Ernst von Baer Karl Ernst Ritter von Baer Edler von Huthorn (; – ) was a Baltic German scientist and explorer. Baer was a naturalist, biologist, geologist, meteorologist, geographer, and is considered a, or the, founding father of embryology. He was a m ...

. He was botanist and zoologist on the East Siberian Expedition of 1855, led by the astronomer Ludwig Schwarz. In 1864 he eventually settled in

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

. In the same year he explored the region surrounding

Mount Elbrus Mount Elbrus; ; is the highest mountain in Russia and Europe. It is a dormant stratovolcano rising above sea level, and is the highest volcano in Eurasia, as well as the tenth-most prominent peak in the world. It is situated in the south ...

, the highest mountain in the Western Palearctic. As well as collecting many plants he recorded the languages, ballads and customs of the local tribes. He set up a museum (the Caucasus Museum) and library in Tbilisi to exhibit his discoveries. His collecting expeditions included visits along the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

coast and eastwards beyond the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, described as the List of lakes by area, world's largest lake and usually referred to as a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia: east of the Caucasus, ...

to Askhabad. In 1895 he sailed to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

with the Grand Duke Michael, and two years later he was official naturalist on a visit by members of the Russian imperial family to

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. He eventually became a member of the Council of State in Tbilisi. In 1884 he was honoured with the chairmanship of the first International Ornithological Congress in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. He was also an honorary member of the ''Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft'', and a foreign member of the

British Ornithologists' Union The British Ornithologists' Union (BOU) aims to encourage the study of birds (ornithology) around the world in order to understand their biology and aid their conservation. The BOU was founded in 1858 by Professor Alfred Newton, Henry Baker ...

and the

Zoological Society of London The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is a charity and organization devoted to the worldwide animal conservation, conservation of animals and their habitat conservation, habitats. It was founded in 1826. Since 1828, it has maintained London Zo ...

. He was awarded the Patron's Medal of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1889 and the Constantine Medal of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in 1898.

Eponyms

Animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Biology, biological Kingdom (biology), kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, ...

s named after him include

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

s such as Radde's warblerBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael (2003). ''Whose Bird? Common Bird Names and the People They Commemorate''. New Haven: Yale University Press. 400 pp. . ("Radde", p. 280). and Radde's accentor, and

amphibian Amphibians are ectothermic, anamniote, anamniotic, tetrapod, four-limbed vertebrate animals that constitute the class (biology), class Amphibia. In its broadest sense, it is a paraphyletic group encompassing all Tetrapod, tetrapods, but excl ...

s and

reptile Reptiles, as commonly defined, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic metabolism and Amniotic egg, amniotic development. Living traditional reptiles comprise four Order (biology), orders: Testudines, Crocodilia, Squamata, and Rhynchocepha ...

s such as the Mongolian toad (''Pseudepidalea raddei)'', the Azerbaijan lizard ('' Darevskia raddei)'', a toadhead agama ('' Phrynocephalus raddei)'', and Radde's mountain viper ('' Montivipera raddei)''.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Radde", p. 215). He is also remembered in the names of Radde's vole (''Stenocranius raddei''), the Ciscaucasian hamster (''Mesocricetus raddei''), and Radde's shrew (''Sorex raddei'').

Collections

Radde was an avid

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. His insect (and other) collections are divided: Transbaikal and

Amur The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer Manchuria, Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ...

material is in the Zoological Museum of the Russian Academy of Science;

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

and Transcaspian material is in the

Georgian National Museum The Georgian National Museum ( ka, საქართველოს ეროვნული მუზეუმი, tr) unifies several leading museums in Georgia. The museum was established within the framework of structural, institutional, and ...

Zoological Section, Tbilisi. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation Radde when citing a

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

Works

His publications include: * ''Reisen im Süden von Ost-Sibirien in den Jahren 1855-59'' (“Travels in the south of eastern Siberia during the years 1855-59,” 1862–1863) * ''Vier Vorträge über den Kaukasus'' (“Four essays on the Caucasus,” 1874) * ''Die Chews'uren und ihr Land'' (“The Chews'uren and their land,” 1878) * ''Ornis Caucasica. Die Vogelwelt des Kaukasus'' (“Ornis Caucasica. The world of birds in the Caucasus,” 1884
at archive.org
* ''Das Ostufer des Pontus'' (“The east bank of the Pontus,” 1894) * ''Die Sammlungen des kaukasischen Museums'' (“The collections of the Caucasus Museum,” 1900 et seq.) In 1892, he wrote a Russian description of his voyage with the grand dukes Alexander and Sergeis Mikhailovitch.

Notes

References

* Barbara and Richard Mearns - ''Biographies for Birdwatchers'' * Anonym 1903 adde, G. F. R.''Wien. ent. Ztg.'' 22 108 * Blasius, R. 1904 adde, G. F. R. ''Journ. Ornith''. 52 1-49 * Daniel, K. 1904 adde, G. F. R. ''Münch. Koleopt. Zeitschr.'' 2 1904-1906(1) 93 * Kraatz, G. 1903 adde, G. F. R.''Dtsch. ent. Ztschr.'' 47 7 *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Radde, Gustav 1831 births 1903 deaths 19th-century German botanists 19th-century German explorers 19th-century German zoologists Botanists with author abbreviations Explorers of Asia Explorers of Siberia Explorers of the Caucasus German entomologists German male non-fiction writers German non-fiction writers German ornithologists People from the Province of Prussia Scientists from Gdańsk