Ernst Behm (geographer)

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Ernst Behm

Ernst Behm (born January 4, 1830 in Gotha ; † March 15, 1884 ibid) was a German geographer .

Life

Ernst Behm was born as the second son of a lawyer and a daughter of the philologist Friedrich Jacobs . After graduating from high school Illustre in his hometown in 1849, he studied medicine in Jena, Berlin and Würzburg and received his doctorate in 1854 with a dissertation on the physiology of the spleen . When he was studying regional literature and travelogues in preparation for a foreign assignment as a doctor, he discovered his love for geography. The publisher Bernhard Perthes became aware of him. In 1856 Behm joined the geographical institution of Justus Perthes in Gotha as a "permanent laborer" and devoted his energies to Petermann's Geographische Mitteilungen . In the 24 volumes of Geographische Mittheilungen that appeared during August Petermann's lifetime (from 1855 to 1878), Behm wrote almost all of the essays, communications and reviews that were not signed by name, and thus half of the total in many years. Behm "was first and foremost a quiet, thorough scholar, to whom books and maps were closer than the colorful world, whose work, however, in spirit and in form has absolutely nothing attached to the dust of the library".

Here, as early as 1872, Behm provided scientific evidence that Lualaba (discovered by David Livingstone ) in Africa was identical to the Congo , a claim which Henry Morton Stanley decisively denied after his first trip, but which he later (1877) made through him Found confirmation. Cristoforo Negri then called him the "true discoverer of the Congo".

Behm launched the Geographical Yearbook in 1866 . In 1872 the part of the population statistics was separated from the Geographical Yearbook and from then on appeared as a supplement to the communications under the title The population of the earth , edited by Ernst Behm and Hermann Wagner . "Now that such work is being done in international organizations and offices today, one can hardly imagine what a sensation these statistics, with their carefully balanced material, caused 130 and more years ago."

From 1876 on, Behm was also in charge of editing the statistical section of the Gotha Court Calendar and in 1878, after Petermann's death, he took over the editing of the communications . In 1883 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy .

Behm died of pulmonary tuberculosis in Gotha on March 15, 1884, at the age of only 54 . He found his final resting place in the local cemetery II , but the grave is no longer preserved today.

Fonts (selection)

  • About the physiology of the spleen . Diss., Würzburg 1854.
  • The distribution of the main cultural products in the United States of North America . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 2 (1856), pp. 408–439.
  • The geographical distribution of the main cultural products of India . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 5 (1859), pp. 29–36.
  • American Polynesia and the Political Conditions in the Remaining Parts of the Great Ocean . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 5 (1859), pp. 173–194.
  • The land and people of the Tebu. Attempt of a geographical and ethnographic sketch of the Eastern Sahara . In: Inner-Africa according to the state of geographical knowledge in the years 1861–1863 . Perthes, Gotha 1863 (= supplementary booklet No. 8 to Petermann's communications ).
  • The modern means of transport: steam ships, railways, telegraphs. A geographical-statistical overview with historical and economic notes. With a telegraph and steamship map of the world and a communications map of Central Europe . Perthes, Gotha 1867.
  • Evidence of the identity of the Lualaba with the Congo . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , Jg. 18 (1872), pp. 405-412.
  • (with Hermann Wagner) The population of the earth. Annual overview of new area accounts, area changes, censuses and estimates of the population on the entire surface of the earth . First edition: Perthes, Gotha 1872 (published until 1931).
  • Sir Samuel Baker's expedition to the Upper White Nile . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 19 (1873), pp. 361–366.
  • On the history of the discovery of the Western Australian desert . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 22 (1876), pp. 33–36.
  • The transformation of the political and geographical conditions on the Balkan Peninsula . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , Jg. 24 (1878), pp. 191–194.
  • August Petermann . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 24 (1878), insert sheet (four pages) between p. 364 and 365 (obituary).

Honors

The discoverer of the Behn River , Andrew Forrest , named the river in his honor, but misspelled the name.

literature

  • Friedrich Ratzel:  Behm, Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 46, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1902, p. 335 f.
  • Franz Köhler: Behm, Ernst . In: Ders .: Biobibliographien Gotha geoscientists . Gotha 2008.
  • Hermann Wagner: Ernst Behm . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 30 (1884), April issue, pp. I – VI (obituary).
  • Dr. Behm . In: Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society of London , Vol. 6 (1884), p. 292 (obituary).

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c Hermann Wagner: Ernst Behm . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , 1884 (see literature).
  2. ^ Würzburg University Library : Würzburger Hochschulschriften 1804–1885. Inventory . Würzburg 1994, p. 205, No. 1439.
  3. ^ The Popular Science Monthly , July 1884 , p. 431.
  4. ^ Hermann Wagner: Ernst Behm . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 30 (1884). P. I – VI, here P. II.
  5. ^ Friedrich Ratzel: Behm, Ernst . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie, Vol. 46, pp. 335–336, quoted on p. 336.
  6. ↑ Ernst Behm: Evidence for the identity of the Lualaba with the Congo . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 19 (1873). Pp. 405-412.
  7. ↑ Wolfgang Böhm : Hermann Wagner and geography at the University of Königsberg . In: Yearbook of the Albertus University of Königsberg, Pr. , Vol. 24 (1974). Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1975. ISBN 3-428-03405-8 . Pp. 196-201, here pp. 196f.
  8. ↑ Franz Köhler: Ernst Behm - a short biography
  9. ^ Peter Bernhardt: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen and the German-language geographical magazines up to the end of the 19th century . In: Petermanns Geographische Mitteilungen , vol. 126 (1981). PM, 1981, pp. 167-183, here p. 175.

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personal data
SURNAME Behm, Ernst
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German geographer
DATE OF BIRTH January 4, 1830
PLACE OF BIRTH Gotha
DATE OF DEATH March 15, 1884
Place of death Gotha