Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (; 18 August 1815 – 24 January 1894) was a Russian

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 ...

and explorer of

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

and

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

extraction. He was known for his expedition in 1843–45 to the extreme north and east of Siberia, describing the effects of

permafrost Permafrost () is soil or underwater sediment which continuously remains below for two years or more; the oldest permafrost has been continuously frozen for around 700,000 years. Whilst the shallowest permafrost has a vertical extent of below ...

on the spread of animals and plants.

Early life

Middendorff's mother, Sophia Johanson (1782–1868), the daughter of an Estonian farmer, had been sent to Saint Petersburg for education by her parents. There, she met with the future director of the St. Petersburg Pedagogical Institute, Theodor Johann von Middendorff (1776–1856), whose father was a Baltic German pastor in

Karuse Karuse is a village in Lääneranna Parish, Pärnu County, in western Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. As the two young people came from different social ranks and were unable to marry each other, their daughter Anette (b. 1809) and son Alexander were born out of wedlock. Alexander was born on 18 August 1815 in St. Petersburg, but could not be baptized until six months later in the Estonian Lutheran Congregation of St. Petersburg, as the German Lutheran Congregation of St. Petersburg had not agreed to perform the baptism. In the accompanying paperwork, Middendorff's parents registered themselves as a married couple. In order to escape the attention of the public, the mother and son returned to Estonia, where they settled at the

Pööravere Pööravere () is a village in Põhja-Pärnumaa Parish, Pärnu County in southwestern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) Zoologist and explorer Alexander von Middendorff Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (; 18 August 1815 – 24 January 189 ...

Mansion. Only in 1824, when the young Middendorff was ready to go to school, was his status legitimized when his parents finally married. (Note: Although his father Theodor was Baltic German, Middendorff's middle name is sometimes spelled as "Theodorowitsch", a German corruption of the Russian patronymic Федорович (Fyodorovich); "-ovich" meaning "the son of" the person (father) whose name precedes it.)

Education

Middendorff received his early education from tutors in

Reval Tallinn is the capital and most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and administratively lies in the Harju ''maakond'' (co ...

and at a gymnasium in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

. From 1832, he pursued a medical degree at the

Imperial University of Dorpat The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

where his professors included

Georg Friedrich Parrot Georg Friedrich Parrot (15 July 1767 – 8 July 1852) was a German scientist, the first Rector (academia), rector of the University of Tartu, Imperial University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) in what was then the Governorate of Livonia of the ...

Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov Nikolay Ivanovich Pirogov (Russian: Николай Иванович Пирогов; – ) was a Russian scientist, medical doctor, pedagogue, public figure, and corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1847), one of the most ...

Hermann Martin Asmuss Hermann Martin Asmuss (31 May 1812 – 6 December 1859) was a Baltic German paleozoologist and professor at the Imperial University of Dorpat. Life Asmuss was born in Dorpat, present-day Estonia, the son of the writer Johann Martin Asmuss an ...

, and

Alexander Friedrich von Hueck Alexander Friedrich von Hueck (7 December 1802 – 28 July 1842) was a Baltic-German professor of anatomy at the University of Tartu (Dorpat), and a notable Estophile. Life and work Von Hueck was born in Reval (Tallinn), present-day capital of E ...

. Middendorff graduated in 1837 with a dissertation (written in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

) on

polyps A polyp in zoology is one of two forms found in the phylum Cnidaria, the other being the medusa. Polyps are roughly cylindrical in shape and elongated at the axis of the vase-shaped body. In solitary polyps, the aboral (opposite to oral) en ...

in the

bronchi A bronchus ( ; : bronchi, ) is a passage or airway in the lower respiratory tract that conducts air into the lungs. The first or primary bronchi to branch from the trachea at the carina are the right main bronchus and the left main bronchus. Thes ...

. He then undertook further studies at the

Humboldt University of Berlin The Humboldt University of Berlin (, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin, Germany. The university was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of Wilhelm von Humbol ...

University of Erlangen-Nuremberg A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

, and

University of Breslau A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

Explorer and scientist

In 1839, under the patronage of

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 became assistant professor of zoology at

Kiev University The Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (; also known as Kyiv University, Shevchenko University, or KNU) is a public university in Kyiv, Ukraine. The university is the third-oldest university in Ukraine after the University of Lviv and ...

. In the summer of 1840, Baer asked Middendorff to join his second expedition to

Novaya Zemlya Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; , ; ), also spelled , is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, considered the extreme points of Europe ...

(the first one took place in 1837). Due to stormy conditions, the expedition failed to reach Novaya Zemlya, but Baer and Middendorff explored Russian and Norwegian Lapland, as well as the Barents and

White Sea The White Sea (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; ) is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is surrounded by Karelia to the west, the Kola Peninsula to the north, and the Kanin Peninsula to the nort ...

s. Middendorff was tasked with crossing on foot the

Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...

and mapping the peninsula from

Kola unit was the big kola int eh Kola may refer to: People * Koła, a Polish noble family * Kola (name), people with the given name/surname Kola * Kola (singer), Ukrainian singer, songwriter and performer of her own songs * Kola people, Gabonese p ...

Kandalaksha Kandalaksha () is a town in Kandalakshsky District of Murmansk Oblast, Russia, located at the head of Kandalaksha Gulf on the White Sea, north of the Arctic Circle. Population: 40,564 ( 2002 Census); Etymology According to the most common ...

while collecting zoological and botanical material. Baer suggested Middendorff to the

St Petersburg Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

as leader of a follow-up expedition and supplied extended expedition instructions in 1842/43 in a print-ready typescript. They comprised over 200 pages and a permafrost map of Eurasia. From 1843 to 1845, Middendorff travelled with these instructions, to the

Taymyr Peninsula The Taymyr Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula in the Far North of Russia, in the Siberian Federal District, that forms the northernmost part of the mainland of Eurasia. Administratively it is part of the Krasnoyarsk Krai Federal subject of Russia. Ge ...

and then along the coast of the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

and entered the lower

Amur River 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 and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is ...

valley (which at this time was Chinese territory). He published his findings in ''Reise in den äußersten Norden und Osten Sibiriens'' (Travels in the extreme north and east of Siberia) in German (1848–1875), which included an account of the effects of

on the spread of animals and plants. He also wrote ''Die Isepiptesen Russlands'' (1855), an account of

bird migration Bird migration is a seasonal movement of birds between breeding and wintering grounds that occurs twice a year. It is typically from north to south or from south to north. Animal migration, Migration is inherently risky, due to predation and ...

in Russia, and a monograph on molluscs, ''Beiträge zu einer Malacozoologia Rossica'' (1847–1849), in which he coined the term

radula The radula (; : radulae or radulas) is an anatomical structure used by mollusks for feeding, sometimes compared to a tongue. It is a minutely toothed, chitinous ribbon, which is typically used for scraping or cutting food before the food enters ...

Baer's expedition instructions had the German title „Materialien zur Kenntniss des unvergänglichen Boden-Eises in Sibirien“ (=materials for the knowledge of the perennial ground ice in Siberia). Although print-ready in 1843, the text remained lost for more than 150 years. Thus, in 2001, the discovery and annotated publication of the typescript in the library

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

s of 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 ...

was a scientific sensation. The full text of the expedition instructions is available online (234 pages). The editor Lorenz King added to the

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

reprint a preface in English, two colour permafrost maps of Eurasia. The text is introduced with detailed comments and references on additional 66 pages written by the Estonian historian Erki Tammiksaar. In 1870, Middendorff visited the

Baraba steppe The Baraba steppe or Baraba Lowland (), is a plain in western Siberia. It is named after Baraba Tatars, its indigenous inhabitants. The Baraba Lowland is an important Russian agricultural region. Geography It stretches for across the Omsk a ...

and in 1878 the

Fergana Valley The Fergana Valley (also commonly spelled the Ferghana Valley) in Central Asia crosses eastern Uzbekistan, southern Kyrgyzstan and northern Tajikistan. Encompassing three former Republics of the Soviet Union, Soviet republics, the valley is e ...

Personal life and death

Middendorf was married to Hedwig. His son Ernst von Middendorff was also an ornithologist. Middendorf died in 1894 at Hellenorm, Kreis Dorpat, in Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (now Valga County, Estonia).

Legacy

Middendorff's grasshopper warbler Middendorff's grasshopper warbler (''Helopsaltes ochotensis'') is a species of Old World warbler in the family Locustellidae. It breeds in eastern Siberia to northern Japan, Kamchatka Peninsula and northern Kuril Islands. It winters in the Philip ...

, Cape Middendorff of

Kodiak bear The Kodiak bear (''Ursus arctos middendorffi''), also known as the Kodiak brown bear and sometimes the Alaskan brown bear, inhabits the islands of the Kodiak Archipelago in southwest Alaska. It is one of the largest recognized subspecies or p ...

(''Ursus arctos middendorffi''), and

Middendorff Bay The Middendorff Bay, () is a deeply indented bay in the shores of the Taymyr Peninsula. It is located southwest of the Nordenskiöld Archipelago in the Kara Sea and it is open towards the west. Geography This bay is limited on its eastern side ...

of the

are named after him. He coined the term

aufeis Aufeis ( ) ( German for "ice on top") is a sheet-like mass of layered ice that forms from successive flows of ground or river water during freezing temperatures. This form of ice is also called overflow, icings, or the Russian term, naled (). Th ...

Early life

Education

Explorer and scientist

Personal life and death

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading