Georg Carl Berendt

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Georg Carl Berendt (born June 13, 1790 in Danzig ; † January 4, 1850 there ) was a German doctor and naturalist. In particular, Berendt is known for his research on amber and its inclusions.

Life

Berendt was the second of three sons of the doctor Dr. Nathanael Berendt and his wife Johanna Concordia geb. Schmidt. After attending grammar school, he studied in Königsberg, Göttingen and Berlin. He received his doctorate in the field of ophthalmology in Göttingen . In 1814 he joined his father's medical practice in Danzig. Berendt married Marianne Reinick in 1817, with whom he had six children. In 1844 he received the title of "Royal Sanitary Council". On October 15, 1845 (matriculation no. 1555) he was elected with the surname Breynius as a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy . After surviving several serious illnesses, he died of a pulmonary embolism in his birthplace, Danzig, in 1850. Georg Carl Berendt achieved a great reputation as an ophthalmologist.

Act

Berendt was already interested in amber when he was a student. So in 1809 he took one of his teachers on a trip to the Samland to the so-called "amber burial". In 1820 Berendt became a member of the Natural Research Society in Danzig , of which he was director from 1837 to 1845. Berendt started a very important amber collection for the time, to which more than 4,000 pieces belonged at the end of his life, of which around 3,200 with animal and around 350 with vegetable inclusions. He was particularly interested in the botanical inclusions. Alexander von Humboldt and Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Visited his collection. A few years after the death of Georg Carl Berendt, the Prussian king bought the collection, which is now owned by the Museum für Naturkunde at the Humboldt University in Berlin . A few years earlier (1847) the British Museum acquired 200 pieces from its collection, which have also been preserved.

His research results on the origin of amber and its (especially vegetable) inclusions are among the milestones in the history of amber research, one of whose pioneers Berendt is considered. In the course of his research on amber inclusions, he was one of the first to recognize that at the time the fossil resin was formed, the climate must have been significantly warmer than it is today, related species of the enclosed organisms examined only occur in subtropical and tropical areas, Baltic amber has been relocated several times must have been, the Harz could only become amber in the absence of air, and more.

Fonts (selection)

  • De atmosphere nervorum sensitiva commentatio. Göttingen 1816 ( archive )
  • The insects in amber. A contribution to the animal history of the prehistoric world. Danzig 1830 ( Archives )
  • Memoire pour servir a l'histoire of the sheet antediluviennes. In: Annales de la sociéte entomologique de France. Volume V, 1836, pp. 539–546 ( BHL ), plate 16 ( BHL )
  • About the occurrence of large amber masses in the interior. In: New notes from the field of natural science and medicine. November 1842, No. 518 (No. 12 of Volume 24), Col. 177–181 ( Google Books )
  • The organic remains of the prehistoric age in amber. (Volume I and II with 2 sections each, Nicolai , Berlin 1845–1856)
    • with Heinrich Göppert : The organic remains of the prehistoric world in amber. First volume. I. Division. The amber and the remains of plants in it from the prehistoric world. Nicolai, Berlin 1845 ( archive )
    • with Carl Ludwig Koch : The organic remains of the prehistoric world in amber. First volume. II. Division. The crustaceans, myriapods, arachnids and apteras of the ancient world found in amber. Nicolai, Berlin 1854 ( archive )
    • with Ernst Friedrich Germar : The organic remains of the prehistoric world in amber. Second volume. I. Division. The hemipterers and orthopterans of the prehistoric world found in amber. Nicolai, Berlin 1856 ( archive )
    • As editor: FJ Pictet-Baraban & H. Hagen : The organic remains of the prehistoric world in amber. Second volume. II. Division. The neuroptera of the prehistoric world in amber. Nicolai, Berlin 1856 ( archive )

literature

  • Victor Carus :  Berendt, George Karl . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 356 f.
  • Hans-Jürgen Kämpfert: Georg Carl Berendt in the Natural Research Society in Danzig as a physician and researcher of the inclusions in amber. In: German-Polish encounter on science and culture, series of publications by the Danzig Natural Research Society. Volume 6, Danzig 2004. (The information in this article is mostly taken from this publication)
  • Wolfgang Weitschat , Wilfried Wichard: Atlas of the plants and animals in the Baltic amber. Munich 1998.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Johann Daniel Ferdinand Neigebaur : History of the Imperial Leopoldino-Carolinian German Academy of Natural Scientists during the second century of its existence. Friedrich Frommann, Jena 1860, p. 272
  2. ^ Andrew J. Ross: The history of the amber collection at the Natural History Museum, London. In Amber - Views - Opinions. Pp. 191–193, Warsaw · Danzig 2006.
personal data
SURNAME Berendt, Georg Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German doctor and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1790
PLACE OF BIRTH Danzig
DATE OF DEATH January 4, 1850
Place of death Danzig