Alexander von Keyserling
Count Alexander Friedrich Michael Lebrecht Nicholas Arthur (Graf) von Keyserling (* August 15 jul. / 27. August 1815 greg. In Kabillen , Kurland , † May 8 jul. / 20th May 1891 greg. In Rayküll , Estonia ) was a German Baltic - Russian geologist , botanist and paleontologist .
origin
He was the 8th child of his parents, Count Heinrich von Keyserlingk (1775-1850), 2nd Count von Rautenburg and his wife Annette Freiin von Nolde (1780-1851) from the House of Kalleten.
Life
During his studies in Berlin he met Otto von Bismarck, who later became the founder of the empire, and his college friend John Lothrop Motley , with whom he had a lifelong friendship.
Due to his expeditions through Russia with geological, palaeontological, botanical, zoological and cartographic studies carried out on behalf of Emperor Nicholas I , he is considered to be a co-founder of Russian geology.
In 1847 he ended his scientific career and retired to the Rayküll estate, which he had acquired as a dowry through his marriage to the daughter of the Russian finance minister Georg Cancrin . He held various offices, including as knight captain (1857–1863) and curator of the University of Dorpat (1862–1869).
In 1847 he received the Demidow Prize and since 1863 he was an honorary member of the Estonian Scholarly Society in Dorpat .
family
He married Countess Zenaide von Cancrin (* July 16, 1821 † February 11, 1885). The couple had at least one son:
- Leo (March 4, 1849 † March 9, 1895) ⚭ Johanna Sophie Konstanze Pilar von Pilchau (* November 4, 1856 † May 30, 1925)
He was the grandfather of the philosopher Hermann Graf Keyserling (1880–1946).
Fonts (selection)
- with Johann Heinrich Blasius : The vertebrates of Europe , F. Vieweg and Son, Braunschweig, 1840.
- with Paul Theodor von Krusenstern (1809–1881): Scientific observations on a trip to the Pechora country, in 1843 (C. Kray, St. Petersburg, 1846).
- Fossil mollusks . St. Petersburg 1848.
- Geology of European Russia and the Urals / arr. by Gustav Leonhard. Stuttgart 1848
- The northern Urals and the Pai-Choi coastal mountains, examined and described by an expedition equipped by the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in 1847, 1848 and 1850 ... (Book printing of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, 1853).
- Polypodiacea et cyatheacea herbarii bungeani (W. Engelmann, Leipzig, 1873).
- Genus Adiantum L. Recensuit Alexander Keyserling… ( Russian Academy of Sciences , St. Petersburg, 1875).
- From the diary sheets of Count Alexander Keyserling… (Stuttgart, 1894).
literature
- Carola L. Gottzmann / Petra Hörner: Lexicon of the German-language literature of the Baltic States and St. Petersburg . 3 volumes; Verlag Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-11-019338-1 . Volume 2, pp. 662-664.
Web links
- Literature by and about Alexander von Keyserling in the catalog of the German National Library
- Works by and about Alexander von Keyserling in the German Digital Library
- Baltic Historical Commission (Ed.): Entry on Alexander Graf Keyserling. In: BBLD - Baltic Biographical Lexicon digital
- The Alexander Keyserling estate in the ULB Darmstadt
- Memorial speech for Karl Ernst von Baer by Count Alexander Keyserling (Reval 1876)
- Genealogical manual of the Baltic knighthoods, Estonia, Görlitz 1930
- Alexander Graf Keyserling at geneall.net
Individual evidence
- ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the municipality of Kabillen (Latvian: Kabile)
- ↑ Entry in the burial register of the municipality of Rappel (Estonian: Rapla kogudus)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Keyserling, Alexander von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Keyserling, Alexander Friedrich Michael Lebrecht Nikolaus Arthur von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Baltic German geologist and paleontologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 27, 1815 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kabillen , Courland |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 20, 1891 |
| Place of death | Raykull , Estonia |