Bernard Altum

Bernard Altum

Johann Bernard Theodor Altum (born December 31, 1824 in Münster , † February 1, 1900 in Eberswalde ) was a German Roman Catholic priest, zoologist and forest scientist . He was a great ornithologist . He was the first to propose a theory of territory formation in birds , in which he also included the function of bird song .

Life

Bernard Altum grew up in poor conditions in Münster. His parents were the shoemaker Bernard Theodor Altum and Anna Gertrude Antonette Huder. After attending primary school, he was accepted at the Paulinum Gymnasium (Münster) due to his excellent academic performance . After graduating from high school in 1845, Altum first studied theology in his hometown , then also philology , geology and botany . In 1849 he received by Bishop Johann Georg Müller the priesthood and was then chaplain at St. Servatius in Munster and later tutor . From 1853 to 1855 he studied philosophy and philology at the University of Berlin . He became one of the first members of the Catholic reading club (now K.St.V. Askania-Burgundia ), the first student corporation of the KV , and after the end of his student days "old man" of this connection.

During his studies he devoted himself primarily to the natural sciences , especially zoology. He heard anatomy and physiology from Johannes Peter Müller and worked under Martin Lichtenstein at the Zoological Museum Berlin . 1855 Altum at the University of Berlin with a thesis on comparative was Homer , Aeschylus , Sophocles and Euripides to doctor doctorate .

In 1856 Altum returned to Münster and initially accepted a teaching position at the secondary school, but also worked as a cathedral vicar and religion teacher. 1859 habilitated himself as a lecturer of Zoology at the Theological and Philosophical Academy. During this time, Altum made great contributions to zoology as a subject in schools, above all through his writing Winke zur Hebung des Zoologische Bildungs (1863).

In 1863 Altum took over the editing of the journal Natur und Revelation , which acted as a pioneer of Catholic science popularization. Until his death, he published the results of his research in the journal for forestry and hunting , especially entomology (insect research).

Bernard Altum taught at the Forest Academy in Eberswalde from 1869

In 1869 he was appointed as the successor of Julius Theodor Christian Ratzeburg as Professor of Natural Sciences at the Neustadt-Eberswalde Forest Academy . There he dealt intensively with questions of forest protection against animals and wrote, among other things, the three-volume forest zoology (1872–1875), which was a standard work for a long time. In addition, Altum was one of the leading ornithologists of his time, recognized the importance of woodpeckers for the forest community and wrote the highly acclaimed work The Bird and His Life (1868), which saw numerous new editions well into the first third of the 20th century. This book was epoch-making because Altum was the first to present a theory of territorial formation in birds and their territorial behavior, while also taking into account the function of song. He was thus in opposition to the prevailing anthropomorphism of his time, such as that prevailed in the popular works of Alfred Brehm . Altum's theories initially attracted a lot of criticism, but are now common knowledge.

During the last decade of his life he was President of the General German Ornithological Society . In addition, he belonged to several other scientific associations, including the ornithological associations of Berlin and Stettin , the Entomological Association Berlin and the Imperial Society for Natural History in Moscow .

As a high school student, Altum had also started to compile extensive collections of self-prepared European birds and their eggs as well as butterflies and beetles . He later left these collections free of charge to the Forestry Academy, where they were an important part of zoological lessons. The butterfly collection alone comprised 7,000 specimens.

Bernard Altum (seated, 2nd from right) as a member of the examination committee for the acceptance of the forest assessor's examination on October 28, 1893 (from left seated): Wilhelm Liebrecht, Adolf Remelé, Altum, Anton Müttrich and (from left, standing): Frank Schwarz, Adolf Runnebaum, Bernhard Danckelmann (not member of the Commission), Wilhelm Waechter, Karl Dickel and Johann Ludwig Boy (not member).

In the field of hunting , he made a name for himself with work on the formation of antlers in red deer , roebuck , elk and fallow deer . Altum was also an excellent hunter and was considered a shooting virtuoso. In addition to his books, he wrote numerous essays in various specialist journals. He was an advocate of against Charles Darwin directed teleological theory of evolution.

In 1891 Altum received the title of " Privy Councilor ". From 1888 to 1896 Altum was also a member of the examination committee, which accepted the forest assessor examination on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture, Domains and Forests (Berlin) .

Altum's life was shaped by deep religiosity. In Eberswalde, too, he remained active as a Catholic clergyman and looked after the small community of St. Peter and Paul. He had a close friendship with the director of the Eberswalde Forest Academy, Bernhard Danckelmann, and with the ornithologist Ferdinand von Droste zu Hülshoff , like Westphalia and devout Catholics.

Bernard Altum was buried together with the Hötte couple in the crypt of the court chapel on Haus Heidhorn near Münster-Hiltrup .

Honors

• 1894 - Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Cross of Honor for the Order of the Griffin
• 1895 - Order of the Red Eagle III. Class with a bow

In addition, Bernard Altum received honorary memberships of the Pomeranian and the Silesian Forest Association, the Westphalian Association for Bird Protection, the Ornithological Association Vienna and the Natural Research Society of Emden .

Monuments

Symbolic monument at Altum in the form of an owl on the Kreuzschanze in Münster

Grave plaque from Bern (h) ard Altum in the chapel of Haus Heidhorn, Münster-Hiltrup

In his hometown Münster, a memorial created by the sculptor Wilhelm Bolte was erected in honor of Altum on the Kreuzschanze near the Buddenturm , which was destroyed in the Second World War. As a replacement, a symbolic sculpture by Arnold Schlick was erected at the Kreuzschanze in 1962. An eagle owl sits on the base and a bird bath is attached to the base of the stele. In Münster, the Altumstraße also commemorates the important forest zoologist and ornithologist. At his resting place in the chapel of Haus Heidhorn, a bronze plaque commemorates Altum.

In the Forest Academy Eberswalde, a portrait bust of Altum was unveiled as early as 1903, which is now in the University of Applied Sciences' historical fund.

Fonts (selection)

Cover of the eighth edition of Der Vogel und seine Leben (Heinrich Schöningh, Münster 1906).

• Similitudines Homeri cum Aeschyli, Sophoclis, Euripidis comparantur , Phi thesis, Berlin 1855
• Winke for teachers to improve the zoological instruction at higher educational institutions , Münster 1863, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 6: 1-30315 .
• The mammals of the Münsterland in their living conditions according to independent observations and experiences , Münster 1867, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 6: 1-30260 . Reprint: Wenner, Osnabrück 1973, ISBN 3-87898-035-3 .
• The bird and its life , Münster 1868, urn : nbn: de: hbz: 6: 1-30279 .
  • 7th edition 1903 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.6995
• together with Hermann Landois : Textbook of Zoology , Freiburg 1870
• Forest Zoology , 3 volumes, Berlin 1872–1875
• Birds . Springer, Berlin 1873 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.13569
• The formation of antlers in red deer, roe buck, fallow deer , Berlin 1874
• The antlers of the elk deer , Berlin 1874
• Mammals. with appendix, mammalian animal tracks . 2. verb. and probably ed., Springer, Berlin 1876 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.15290
• Our woodpeckers and their forest significance , Berlin 1878
• Our mice in their forestry importance etc. , Berlin 1880
• Insects . 2., verb. and probably ed., Springer, Berlin 1881 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.8167
• The species characteristics of the domestic duck-like poultry 1883
• Damage to forests by animals and antidotes , Berlin 1889
• Achievement of a uniform nomenclature in the field of entomology and botany 1892

literature

• Erich Wasmann: Dr. B. Altum An obituary . In: Nature and Revelation . Volume 46, printed and published by the Aschendorffschen Buchhandlung, Münster 1900, pp. 193-204 (with portrait).
• Georg Arnold:  Altum, Johann Bernard Theodor. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 29, Bautz, Nordhausen 2008, ISBN 978-3-88309-452-6 , Sp. 43-46.
• Andreas W. Daum : Science popularization in the 19th century. Civil culture, scientific education and the German public, 1848–1914 . 2nd, additional edition, Oldenbourg, Munich 2002, ISBN 978-3-486-56551-5 (here also p. 473 short biography).
• Albrecht Milnik : Bernard Altum . In ders. (Ed.) Et al .: In the service of the forest - life paths and achievements of Brandenburg forest people. Brandenburg pictures of life . Verlag Kessel, Remagen-Oberwinter 2006, ISBN 3-935638-79-5 , pp. 242-243
• Albrecht Milnik, Klaus Rohlfien: Professor of Zoology Dr. Bernard Altum (1824-1900). On the 100th anniversary of death . In: Eberswalder Yearbook for Local History, Culture and Natural History 2000/2001 . Association for local history in Eberswalde, Eberswalde 2000, pp. 239–248, ISSN  1616-1882
• Ludwig Gebhardt: The ornithologists of Central Europe. 1747 remarkable biographies from the Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century . Verlagsgemeinschaft Aula-Verlag, Quelle-Meyer-Verlag, Limpert-Verlag 2006, ISBN 3-89104680-4 (entries on Bernard Altum in volume I, p. 19, and volume II, p. 148)
• Hermann Schalow : Contributions to the bird fauna of the Mark Brandenburg . (Reprint of the edition from 1919.) Verlag Natur & Text, Rangsdorf 2004, ISBN 978-3-9807627-9-3 or ISBN 3-9807627-9-3 (also contains a chapter on Altum)
• Gelasius Kraus: Bernard Altum as a natural philosopher. A contribution to the history of natural philosophy in the 19th century . Schöningh, Paderborn 1914
• Hermann Eidmann:  Altum, Bernhard. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 1, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1953, ISBN 3-428-00182-6 , p. 230 ( digitized version ). (with several incorrect entries)
• Feige: Commemorative speech for the secret government councilor Professor Dr. Bernard Altum (...), born December 31, 1824 in Münster in Westphalia, died February 1, 1900 in Eberswalde (...). Held in memory of his parish on February 11, 1900 (...) . Müller, Eberswalde 1900, 12 pp.
• Siegfried Koß in Siegfried Koß, Wolfgang Löhr (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon des KV. 2nd part (= Revocatio historiae. Volume 3). SH-Verlag, Schernfeld 1993, ISBN 3-923621-98-1 , p. 16f.
• Hermann Schalow: Bernhard Altum. Obituary held at the February meeting of the German Ornithological Society . In: Ornithological Yearbook . tape 8 , no. 4 , 1900, p. 49-54 ( online [accessed October 27, 2011]).

Web links

Wikisource: Bernard Altum  - Sources and full texts

Commons : Bernard Altum  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Bernard Altum in the catalog of the German National Library

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andreas W. Daum: Science popularization in the 19th century. Civil culture, scientific education and the German public, 1848–1914 . Oldenbourg, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-486-56337-8 , pp. 357 f., 473 .