Schlagintweit brothers
Three of the five sons ( Hermann , Adolf , Eduard , Robert and Emil ) of the ophthalmologist Joseph Schlagintweit (1792-1854) became known as the Schlagintweit brothers :
- Hermann von Schlagintweit (born May 13, 1826, † January 19, 1882)
- Adolf Schlagintweit (born January 9, 1829, † August 26, 1857)
- Robert von Schlagintweit (born October 27, 1833, † June 6, 1885)
They traveled as scientists , explorers and mountaineers .
Life
First, the siblings, who were still Emil (* July 7, 1835, † October 29, 1904), Eduard (* March 23, 1831, † July 10, 1866 in the Battle of Kissingen ) and from the father's third marriage, dedicated themselves Joseph Schlagintweit (1792-1854) count as other brothers, botanical and glaciological research in the Alps . Among other things, Großglockner , Wildspitze and Similaun were climbed. They only narrowly failed in 1851 when they reached the first ascent of the highest Swiss peak, the 4,634 m high Dufourspitze in the Monte Rosa massif .
On the recommendation of Alexander von Humboldt , the Schlagintweit brothers set out from England on September 20, 1854 on a research trip to India and Central Asia . On behalf of the East India Company , they should devote themselves to the study of geomagnetism . As a result, they traveled partly together and partly alone to the Indian subcontinent and the Himalayas . You got u. a. to Darjiling , Bhutan , Leh , the Karakoram , Nepal and the Tarim Basin . Adolph and Robert made a detour to Tibet , which was still forbidden at the time , but were then forced to turn back. On the way back they attempted to climb the Kamet , an altitude record of 6,785 m for the time.
The three brothers met for the last time in October 1856 in Srinagar . Robert and Hermann Schlagintweit arrived back in Berlin on June 17, 1857. They brought back material from their trip so extensive that they could not fully evaluate it during their lifetime. For Adolf, who wanted to reach Germany by land, the journey came to a fatal end. He was captured near Kashgar and beheaded as a suspected Chinese spy on August 26, 1857 without trial or hearing at the Khan's court .
Honors
The plant genera Schlagintweitia Griseb. from the sunflower family (Asteraceae) and Schlagintweitiella Ulbr. from the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae) are named after the three brothers Adolf Schlagintweit , Hermann von Schlagintweit and Robert von Schlagintweit .
Works
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Results of a scientific mission to India and High Asia undertaken between the years MDCCCLIV. and MDCCCLVIII., by order of the court of directors of the honorable East India Company.
- Volume 1: Astronomical determinations of latitudes and longitudes and magnetic observations during a scientific mission to India and High Asia. Leipzig, 1861 ( digitized version )
- Volume 2: General hypsometry of India, the Hímalaya, and Western Tíbet, with sections across the chains of the Karakorúm and Kuenlúen, comprising, in addition to Messrs. De Schlagintweits' determinations, the data collected from books, maps, and private communications. Leipzig, 1862 ( digitized )
- Volume 3: Route-book of the western parts of the Himálaya, Tíbet, and Central Asia; and geographical glossary from the languages of India and Tíbet, including the phonetic transcription and interpretation. Leipzig, 1863 ( digitized version )
- Volume 4: Meteorology of India, an analysis of the physical conditions of India, the Himálaya, western Tíbet, and Turkistán. Leipzig, 1866 ( digitized version )
The Schlagintweit brothers in literature and art
- Christopher Kloeble : The Museum of the World . Novel. (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag), Munich 2020 ISBN 978-3423282185 (The story of the Schlagintweit expedition is told from the perspective of an Indian boy and a translator. The writer thus turns the researcher into a research object.)
literature
- Moritz von Brescius: German Science in the Age of Empire: Enterprise, Opportunity and the Schlagintweit Brothers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2019, ISBN 978-1-108-57956-8 .
- Emil Schlagintweit : Schlagintweit . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 336-348.
- Helmut Mayr: Schlagintweit. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 23, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2007, ISBN 978-3-428-11204-3 , pp. 23-25 ( digitized version ). (the article is hidden behind the link to Emil Schlagintweit)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Albert Schäffer: Promoted, celebrated and forgotten. An exhibition in Munich pays tribute to the Schlagintweit brothers' groundbreaking expedition to India . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, June 6, 2015, p. 7.
- ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .