Robert Collett (2 December 1842 – 27 January 1913) was a Norwegian

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 ...

. Collett was director and curator of the Zoological Museum at

University of Oslo The University of Oslo (; ) is a public university, public research university located in Oslo, Norway. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation#Europe, oldest university in Norway. Originally named the Royal Frederick Univ ...

. Robert Collett was born at Christiania (now Oslo), Norway. He was the eldest child of Professor Peter Jonas Collett (1813–51) and Camilla Collett (1813–95). His maternal uncles included

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People and fictional and mythical characters * Oscar (given name), including lists of people and fictional characters named Oscar, Óscar or Oskar * Oscar (footballer, born 1954), Brazilian footballer ...

and

Henrik Wergeland Henrik Arnold Thaulow Wergeland (17 June 1808 – 12 July 1845) was a Norwegian writer, most celebrated for his poetry but also a prolific playwright, polemicist, historian, and linguist. He is often described as a leading pioneer in the develop ...

, and his paternal uncles included Peter Severin Steenstrup. He had three younger brothers, including the writer and historian,

Alf Collett Alf Collett (8 August 1844 – 12 June 1919) was a Norway, Norwegian writer and historian.

. He never married.Robert Collett
University of Oslo He attended the Latin School in

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

and was a fellow in zoology at the

. From 1864 he was curator at the Zoological Museum in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

. In 1882 he became its director and was appointed professor in 1885. He worked with vertebrates, primarily fishes. He described many new species of fish, spiders and other organisms. A popular book ''Norges pattedyr'' written by him was on the mammals of Norway. This book was to influence Charles Elton to study the periodic fluctuations in animal populations. The work by Elton on animal fluctuations, particularly those of lemmings challenged the idea that there was a balance in nature. Collett is commemorated in the scientific names of two species of reptiles: '' Ctenotus colletti'' and '' Pseudechis colletti''. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Collett", p. 56).

References

External links

Norges pattedyr

Norwegian Biographical Dictionary (in Norwegian)

The family tree of Robert Collett on Geni.com
1842 births 1913 deaths Norwegian people of English descent 19th-century Norwegian zoologists Norwegian curators Norwegian ichthyologists

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

Commanders of the Order of the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters Scientists from Oslo {{zoologist-stub

See also

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