Kurt Ehrenreich Floericke (also spelled Curt and/or Flöricke; 23 March 1869, in

Zeitz Zeitz ( hsb, Žič) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia and Saxony. History Zeitz was first recorded und ...

– 29 October 1934, in Stuttgart) was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

naturalist and author of numerous popular science books. He also edited the Kosmos magazine in Stuttgart from 1907. An early advocate of bird protection, he sought the establishment of a bird sanctuary on

Lake Constance Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...

Life and work

Floericke was born in

to Kurt Paul from Brandenburg and Selma Berta née Hüller from Thuringia. He became interested in nature early and went to study the natural sciences in Marburg and Breslau. From 1889, Floericke studied natural sciences in Breslau and

Marburg Marburg ( or ) is a university town in the German federal state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of the Marburg-Biedenkopf district (''Landkreis''). The town area spreads along the valley of the river Lahn and has a population of approx ...

and he gained a doctorate in 1893 in Marburg with a thesis on the bird fauna of

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...

and worked as an assistant to Richard Greef. He spent 1894 to spring 1897 in Rossiten where he founded an association for bird enthusiasts, ''Verein vergnügter Vogelfreunde''. Floericke hoped to establish a research station but he was unable to raise funds. In 1897,

Johannes Thienemann Johannes Thienemann (12 November 1863 – 12 April 1938) was a German ornithologist and pastor who established the Rossitten Bird Observatory, the world's first dedicated bird ringing station where he conducted research and popularized bird stud ...

was able to raise funds and took over Floericke's project. Floericke also separated from his wife, who married Thienemann. Disappointed by all this Floericke began to travel across Bosnia, Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Asia Minor and Palestine. He remained a harsh critic of Thienemann. He then extended his studies to east and south-east Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and South America. In 1902, he moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, where he made a living as an author. He also married Melanie Reiß (1881-1971). His financial position was assured when he became the editor and owner of ''Kosmos Die Zeitschrift für alle Freunde der Natur'' ("Kosmos Magazine for the Friends of Nature" 1904-, Stuttgart). Floericke inspired the formation of the Süddeutsche Vogelwarte, the South German Ornithological Institute and was involved in establishing a bird observatory at

Radolfzell Radolfzell am Bodensee is a town in Germany at the western end of Lake Constance approximately 18 km northwest of Konstanz. It is the third largest town, after Constance and Singen, in the district of Konstanz, in Baden-Württemberg. Rado ...

on Lake Constance. He promoted the view that nature was self-regulating and did not need management by humans. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he wrote on the wartime powers, campaigns and battles. Floericke was a Freemason and belonged to the "Masonic Association of the Rising Sun" and published the magazine "''Sonnenstrahlen''" from 1908 to 1922. He died from malaria contracted on his travels and died in Stuttgart.

Bibliography

Floericke wrote extensively, more than 100 books and 800 articles. His books included: *''Einheimische Fische'' (1913) *''Schnecken und Muscheln'' (1920) *''Spinnen und Spinnenleben'' (1921) *''Allerlei Gewürm'' (1921) *''Heuschrecken und Libellen'' (1922) *''Falterleben'' (1923) *''Aussterbende Tiere'' (1927) In his 1922 book ''Dr. Kurt Floerickes Vogelbuch,'' he was among the first to note predation of nestling birds by slugs (''Arion'' sp.).

References

Other sources

Andreas Daum Andreas W. Daum is a German-American historian who specializes in modern German and transatlantic history, as well as the history of knowledge and global exploration. Daum received his Ph.D. summa cum laude in 1995 from the Ludwig Maximilian Unive ...

, ''Wissenschaftspopularisierung im 19. Jahrhundert: Bürgerliche Kultur, naturwissenschaftliche Bildung und die deutsche Öffentlichkeit, 1848–1914''. Munich: Oldenbourg, 1998, , 2nd. edition 2002, including a short biography. *Ulrich Franke: ''Dr. Curt Floericke - Naturforscher, Ornithologe, Schriftsteller. Mit der ersten umfassenden Bibliographie seiner Schriften''. 2009.

External links

Floericke online
*http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/floericke/ * * 1869 births 1934 deaths People from Zeitz People from the Province of Saxony 19th-century German zoologists German ornithologists 20th-century German zoologists {{Germany-zoologist-stub