Josef Anton Maximilian Perty (17 September 1804,

Ornbau Ornbau () is a walled town in the district of Ansbach, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, 15 km southeast of Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Reg ...

– 8 August 1884,

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

) was a German

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 ...

and

entomologist Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...

. He was a professor of zoology and

comparative anatomy Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

at the

University of Bern The University of Bern (, , ) is a public university, public research university in the Switzerland, Swiss capital of Bern. It was founded in 1834. It is regulated and financed by the canton of Bern. It is a comprehensive university offering a br ...

.Deutsche Biographie
biography His first name is sometimes spelled as "Joseph". He studied

natural sciences Natural science or empirical science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer ...

and medicine in

Landshut Landshut (; ) is a town in Bavaria, Germany, on the banks of the Isar, River Isar. Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free state (government), Free State of Bavaria, and the seat of the surrou ...

, earning his medical doctorate in 1826. Afterwards, he obtained his PhD at

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

with a thesis on a previously unknown species of

beetle Beetles are insects that form the Taxonomic rank, order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Holometabola. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 40 ...

, and in 1831 became

privat-docent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualifi ...

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 ...

and general natural history at the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

. From 1833 to 1876, he was a professor at the University of Bern.BHL
Taxonomic literature : a selective guide to botanical publicationsADB:Perty, Maximilian
@

Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB; ) is one of the most important and comprehensive biographical reference works in the German language. It was published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences between 1875 and 1912 in 56 volumes, printed in Lei ...

He conducted investigative studies of

arthropod Arthropods ( ) are invertebrates in the phylum Arthropoda. They possess an arthropod exoskeleton, exoskeleton with a cuticle made of chitin, often Mineralization (biology), mineralised with calcium carbonate, a body with differentiated (Metam ...

s collected by

Johann Baptist von Spix Johann Baptist Ritter von Spix (9 February 1781 – 13 March 1826) was a German natural history, biologist. From his expedition to Brazil, he brought to Germany a large variety of specimens of plants, insects, mammals, birds, amphibians and fish. ...

and

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botany, botanist and explorer. Between 1817 and 1820, he travelled 10,000 km through Brazil while collecting botanical specimens. His m ...

from an expedition in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In 1862, the botanical genus ''

Pertya ''Pertya'' is a genus of Asian flowering plants in the family Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order ...

'' was named in his honor by

Carl Heinrich "Bipontinus" Schultz Carl Heinrich Schultz (30 June 1805 – 17 December 1867) was a German physician and botanist, and a brother to botanist Friedrich Wilhelm Schultz (1804–1876). He is referred to as Carl Heinrich "Bipontinus" Schultz, Carl Heinrich Schultz Bipon ...

Works

*''Observationes nonnulae in Coleoptera Indiae orientalis'', München (1831). *''Delectus Animalium Articulatorum quae in itinere per Brasiliam Annis MDCCCXVII – MDCCCXX Iussu et Auspiciis Maximiliani Josephi I. Bavariae Regis Augustissimi, percato collegerunt Dr J. B. de Spix et Dr. C. F. Ph. de Martius''. (1830-1834). *''Zur Kenntniss kleinster Lebensformen: nach Bau, Funktionen, Systematik, mit Specialverzeichniss der in der Schweiz beobachteten.'' pp. 1-228, pls I-XVII. Bern: Verlag von Jent & Reinert. *''Die mystischen Erscheinungen in der menschlichen Natur''. Leipzig, (2nd edition 1872, 2 vols.) (1861). *''Über das Seelenleben der Tiere'' (Leipzig und Heidelberg, 2. 1865: new edition 1876). *''Die Natur im Licht philosophischer Anschauung'' (Leipzig und Heidelberg) (1869). *''Erinnerungen aus dem Leben eines Natur- und Seelenforschers des 19. Jahrhunderts'' (Leipzig und Heidelberg) (1879).

Collections

Perty's collections are divided between the University of Bern and the

Zoologische Staatssammlung München The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology () or ZSM is a major German research institution for zoological systematics in Munich. It has over 20 million zoological specimens. It is one of the largest natural history collections in the world. The ...

References

German naturalists German entomologists Dipterists Expatriates in Switzerland 1804 births 1884 deaths German taxonomists Academic staff of the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich People from Ansbach (district) 19th-century German zoologists {{Germany-zoologist-stub