Karl Heinrich Bergius
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Karl Heinrich Bergius (1790–1818), also known as Carl Heinrich Bergius, was a
Prussian Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, the House of Hohenzoll ...
botanist 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 ...
,
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 ...
,
cavalryman Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...
and
pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English, is a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about preparation, mechanism of action, clinical usage and legislation of medications in ...
from Küstrin. He is notable for his natural history collecting in southern
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
. Bergius served as a cavalryman in the Prussian campaign of the
Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...
, for which he was awarded the
Iron Cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...
.Aluka entry on Karl Heinrich Bergius
/ref> He subsequently studied pharmacy in
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 ...
where his botanical interests were noted by
Martin 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 Berlin Zoological Museum. Lichtenstein encouraged him to go to the
Cape Colony The Cape Colony (), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope. It existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with three ...
of southern Africa to work as an assistant pharmacist in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, where he arrived in 1815, in order to make natural history collections for the Berlin Museum.Mearns, Barbara; & Mearns, Richard. (1988). ''Biographies of Birdwatchers. The lives of those commemorated in western palearctic bird names''. Academic Press: London. He died in isolation and poverty in Cape Town in January 1818 of
pulmonary The lungs are the primary organs of the respiratory system in many animals, including humans. In mammals and most other tetrapods, two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart. Their function in the respiratory syste ...
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
, abandoned by even
Mund and Maire Johannes Ludwig Leopold Mund (1791-1831) and Louis Maire (fl. 1815-1833) were natural history collectors who worked in the Cape Colony under the sponsorship of the Berlin Museum of Natural History. Museum specimens they collected were always labeled ...
with whom he had served in the Prussian Army. He is commemorated in the scientific name of the
greater crested tern The greater crested tern Retrieved 28 February 2012 (''Thalasseus bergii''), also called crested tern, swift tern, or great crested tern, is a tern in the family Laridae that nests in dense colonies on coastlines and islands in the tropical and ...
, ''Thalasseus bergii'', as well as in the names of the plants '' Diascia bergiana'' Link & Otto, '' Ficinia bergiana'' Kunth and '' Ophioglossum bergianum'' Schltdl. Sutton, D.A.


References

1790 births 1818 deaths 19th-century German botanists German entomologists Scientists from Berlin Naturalists from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German naturalists Botanists from the Kingdom of Prussia {{Germany-botanist-stub