Jørgen Jacob Scheel (born

Randers Municipality Randers Municipality (, ) is a municipality ( Danish, '' kommune'') in Region Midtjylland on the Jutland peninsula in central Denmark. The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 100,356 (as of 1. January 2025). Its mayor, since ...

9 February 1916, died 13 April 1989) was a Danish aristocrat, soldier, explorer and

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

. His father was Jørgen Carl Scheel (1874-1944) and his mother was Erikka Ellen Estrup (1891-1960); his parents married in 1912. He was

baptized Baptism (from ) is a Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by sprinkling or pouring water on the head, or by immersing in water either partially or completely, traditionally three ...

in the Marie Magdalene Church in Sønderhald. Scheel was a

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

of the Danish aristocracy. Scheel joined the

Royal Danish Army The Royal Danish Army (; ; ) is the land-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods ...

as a Sekonløjtnant in the infantry in 1939, being promoted to Løjtnant in the

Royal Life Guards The Life Guards (LG) is the most senior regiment of the British Army and part of the Household Cavalry, along with Blues and Royals, The Blues and Royals. History The Life Guards grew from the four troops of Horse Guards Regiment, Horse Guar ...

in the same year. In 1939 he also married Anne-Sophie Emerentze Gyldenkrone in Copenhagen on 15 July. They had four children Suzanne, Anne Beate, Christiane and Christian Detlev. In 1954 he was a Kaptajn in the Guards and he ended his military career as an

Oberst ''Oberst'' () is a senior field officer rank in several German language, German-speaking and Scandinavian countries, equivalent to Colonel. It is currently used by both the Army, ground and air forces of Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, a ...

in command of Denmark's Defence Motor School. Scheel is best known for his activities as an

aquarist An aquarist is a person who manages aquariums, either professionally or as a hobby. They typically care for aquatic animals, including fish and marine invertebrates. Some may care for aquatic mammals. Aquarists often work at public aquariums. They ...

and

. He did much to promote the hobby of fish keeping in Denmark and beyond and wrote a number of books on the subject. He also undertook a number of expeditions, often funded by the

Carlsberg Foundation Carlsberg Foundation () is a not-for-profit organization that was founded by J. C. Jacobsen in 1876, by allocating some of his shares in the Carlsberg Brewery to fund and operate the Carlsberg Laboratory and the Museum of National History at ...

. On these expeditions Scheel discovered many new species of fish, especially

killifish A killifish is any of various oviparous (egg-laying) cyprinodontiform fish, including families Aplocheilidae, Pantanodontidae, Cyprinodontidae, Fundulidae, Nothobranchiidae, Profundulidae, Aphaniidae and Valenciidae. All together, there ar ...

es, which he described. He was an honorary member of many aquarium societies in Denmark and elsewhere and was given an honorary doctorate by the

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

in 1973. The African killifish '' Fundulopanchax scheeli'' is named in his honour.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheel, Jorgen Jacob Danish military personnel Danish ichthyologists 1916 births 1989 deaths 20th-century Danish zoologists