Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup
FRS(For) H
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...
(8 March 1813 – 20 June 1897) was a Danish
zoologist
Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...
,
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 professor.
Life
Born in
Vang, Thy on 8 March 1813, he held a lectorate in mineralogy in
Sorø
Sorø () is a town in Sorø municipality on the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in east Denmark with a population of 8,433 (2025). until 1845 when he became a 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 ...
at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University.
...
. He worked on a great many subjects, including
cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan Taxonomic rank, class Cephalopoda (Greek language, Greek plural , ; "head-feet") such as a squid, octopus, cuttlefish, or nautilus. These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral symm ...
s, and also in
genetics
Genetics is the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms.Hartl D, Jones E (2005) It is an important branch in biology because heredity is vital to organisms' evolution. Gregor Mendel, a Moravian Augustinians, Augustinian ...
, where he discovered the principle of the
alternation of generations
Alternation of generations (also known as metagenesis or heterogenesis) is the predominant type of life cycle in plants and algae. In plants both phases are multicellular: the haploid sexual phase – the gametophyte – alternates with a diploi ...
in some parasitic worms in 1842.
Steenstrup discovered (1842) the possibility of using the subfossils of the
Postglacial
The Holocene () is the current geologic time scale, geological epoch, beginning approximately 11,700 years ago. It follows the Last Glacial Period, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene to ...
as a means of interpreting
climate change
Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
s and correlated vegetation change, which he called
succession
Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.
Governance and politics
*Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...
in the recent past. Two of Steenstrup's students,
Christian Vaupell and
Eugen Warming
Johannes Eugenius Bülow Warming (3 November 1841 – 2 April 1924), known as Eugen Warming, was a Danish botanist and a main founding figure of the scientific discipline of ecology. Warming wrote the first textbook (1895) on plant ecology, tau ...
further developed this line of research.
Japetus Steenstrup was a professor to zoologist
Johan Erik Vesti Boas, who was also a student of zoologist
Carl Gegenbaur
Carl Gegenbaur (21 August 1826 – 14 June 1903)"Carl Gegenbaur – Encyclopædia Britannica" (biography), ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 2006, Britannica.coBritannica-KarlG was a German anatomist and professor who demonstrated that the field of ...
, and
Hans Christian Gram
Hans Christian Joachim Gram (13 September 1853 – 14 November 1938) was a Danish bacteriologist noted for his development of the Gram stain, still a standard technique to classify bacteria and make them more visible under a microscope.
Earl ...
, inventor of the Gram stain.
["Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. B"
(biographies of scientists with names beginning "B"),
Hans G. Hansson, TJärnö Marine Biological Laboratory,
]University of Gothenburg
The University of Gothenburg () is a List of universities in Sweden, university in Sweden's second largest city, Gothenburg. Founded in 1891, the university is the third-oldest of the current List of universities in Sweden#Public universities, S ...
and Stockholm University
Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...
, ''TMBL.gu.se'' webpage:
TMBL-P-Etymol-B
.
During
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
's extensive study of
barnacle
Barnacles are arthropods of the subclass (taxonomy), subclass Cirripedia in the subphylum Crustacean, Crustacea. They are related to crabs and lobsters, with similar Nauplius (larva), nauplius larvae. Barnacles are exclusively marine invertebra ...
s (Cirripedia) between 1846 and 1854, he corresponded with Steenstrup, who sent him both information and specimens. Darwin returned the specimens in 1854, and by way of thanks also sent Steenstrup a box of specimens, with a letter listing the 77 species of cirripedia he had enclosed as a gift. The specimens were dispersed in the
Natural History Museum of Denmark
The Natural History Museum of Denmark () is a natural history museum located in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen
The museum became an organizational entity in 2004 with the merger of Copenhagen's Zoological ...
; in 2014 staff at the museum found the list, and were able to identify most of the specimens for a new exhibition of their best objects.
When Darwin published his series of monographs, he included notes acknowledging his debt to the kindness of Professor Steenstrup for sending him specimens of both modern and fossil barnacles.
Together with
Johan Lange
Johan Martin Christian Lange (20 March 1818 – 3 April 1898) was a prominent Danish botanist.
He held the post of Librarian at the Botanical library of the University of Copenhagen from 1851 to 1858. He was Director of the Botanical Garden ...
, Steenstrup was the publisher of ''
Flora Danica'' fasc. 44.
In 1842, at the age of 29, he was elected a member of the
Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab.
[Jungersen, H.F.E. (1902). Steenstrup, Johannes Japetus Smith. in: ''Dansk biografisk lexikon'']
band XVI: p. 327
/ref> In 1857, he was elected a foreign member of 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 1862, he was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
He died on 20 June 1897 in Copenhagen.
References
* Steenstrup, J.J.S. (1842). Geognostisk-geologisk Undersögelse af Skovmoserne Vidnesdam- og Lillemose i det nordlige Sjelland, ledsaget af sammenlignende Bemærkninger hentede fra Danmarks Skov-, Kjær og Lyngmoser ialmindelighed. ''Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskabs Naturvidenskabelige og Mathematiske Afhandlinger''
ser. 4, 9: 17–120
* Spärck, R. (1932). Japetus Steenstrup, pp. 115–119 in: Meisen, V. ''Prominent Danish Scientists through the Ages''. University Library of Copenhagen 450th Anniversary. Levin & Munksgaard, Copenhagen.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steenstrup, Japetus
1813 births
1897 deaths
Danish zoologists
Teuthologists
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)
Foreign members of the Royal Society
International members of the American Philosophical Society