Georg Marggraf

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Historia Naturalis Brasiliae , eds. Willem Piso and Georg Marggraf 1648

Georg Marcgrave also Marcgrave , Marcgraf or Markgraf (* 20th September 1610 in Liebstadt , Electorate , † July / August 1644 in São Paulo de Loanda , Angola ) was a German naturalist and explorer in South America in the 17th century. Its official botanical author abbreviation is “ Marcgr. ".

Live and act

The son of a schoolmaster and organist began studying mathematics, botany, astronomy, chemistry and medicine for several years in 1627, visiting the universities in Strasbourg, Basel, Ingolstadt, Altdorf, Erfurt, Wittenberg, Leipzig, Greifswald, Rostock, Stettin and Leyden.

In 1638 he was one of the youngest participants, together with other scientists and artists such as Willem Piso , Frans Post and Albert Eckhout, in Prince Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen's long-term expedition to Brazil .

He mapped the coast between the 5th and 11th parallel for three years. Several excursions took Marggraf into the interior of the country between the Rio Grande in the north and the Rio São Francisco in the south. During these excursions he carried out extensive studies of astronomy and botany and carried out weather observations and records. He wrote u. a. the first scientific description of a solar eclipse in the New World (November 3rd / 13th, 1640). He played a key role in the conception of a zoological and botanical garden in Recife .

Marggraf died of tropical fever in S. Paulo de Loanda ( Angola ) in 1644 at the age of 34 .

After his death, his scientific records came to Europe via Moritz from Nassau and from there into different hands; large parts have been lost to this day. Johannes de Laet , who recommended Marggraf for the Brazil expedition, processed his notes on the birds of Brazil for the first time in the 5th edition of the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae . Some of his maps were engraved in copper and published in the Atlas Basiliensis . Some of the rivers are shown far inland. His maps shaped the image of Brazil well into the 18th century. In contrast, a large part of the mathematical and astronomical records remained lost. In this area of ​​science in particular, it is possible that Marggraf wrote down observations here, some of which were only published decades later, such as B. the first star directory of the southern sky (presented in 1679 by Edmond Halley ).

The two volumes of the Libri Principis , Libri Picturati A 36-37, which are now kept in the Jagiellonian Library together with the four-volume Theatrum rerum naturalium Brasiliae and the Miscellanea Cleyeri from the possession of the Berlin State Library, are probably also by Marggraf .

Marggraf's herbarium

During his time in Brazil, Marggraf had set up an extensive herbarium which, in addition to the drawings by Albert Eckhout, served as a template for illustrations in the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae published in 1848. In 1653 it came into the possession of Villum Worm (1633–1704) and from him to the Danish King Frederik III. In 1783 it was finally given to the Botanical Institute in Copenhagen, where it is still in use today. It contains 173 plants and a few more are scattered around. In 1751 Carl von Linné remarked about Marggraf and his herbarium: "He makes good descriptions, an excellent collection."

Problematic relationship with Willem Piso

The relationship between the two scientists Georg Marggraf and Willem Piso became more and more tense during the stay in Brazil and Piso was later accused of having partially copied with Marggraf. These allegations are sometimes very tendentious, while Carl von Linné called for a direct comparison of the two authors.

The fact is, however, that Johannes de Laet, the editor of the first joint work from 1648, had great problems deciphering and organizing Marggraf's strongly encrypted texts and largely disordered notes made in the field. He independently added numerous additions and references to the other author. He is also responsible for identical passages. On closer analysis, the proportions of Pisos and Marggrafs can be clearly distinguished from one another, as was the case recently with the example of the paradise nut Lecythis pisonis and the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii .

How closely related the work of both researchers was assessed by later natural scientists like Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius is shown, among other things, by the fact that some animal and plant species were named after both.

Honors

Charles Plumier named the genus Marcgravia of the Marcgraviaceae plant family in his honor . Carl von Linné later took over this name. In addition, various species were named after Marggraf ( Artepitheta marcgravii etc.).

Fonts (selection)

  • Willem Piso, Georg Marggraf: Historia Rerum Naturalis Brasiliae . Leiden and Amsterdam 1648.
  • Georg Marggraf: Tractatus Topographicus & Meteorologicus Brasiliae, cum Eclipsi Solari; Quibus addit sunt Illius & Aliorum Commentarii De Brasiliensium & Chilensium Indole & Lingua . In: Willem Piso: De Indiae utriusque re Naturali et Medica. Amsterdam 1658 pp. 1–39 (based on Book VI Pisos).
  • Georg Marggraf: História Natural do Brasil . Portuguese edition (the part of Georg Marggraf in the Historia Rerum Naruralium Brasiliae from 1648). Rio de Janeiro 1942.

literature

  • Eugene Willis Gudger: George Marcgrave, the first student of American natural history . In: The Popular Science Monthly No. 81 (1912) pp. 250-274.
  • Gerd Hauswald: Research trip to Brazil. Rediscovery of a Saxon naturalist. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter 5 (1961) pp. 271–274.
  • Elly Albertin: Fauna and Flora of the "New World". The odyssey of drawings by Eckhout, Pisos and Margrave . In: Brazil - Discovery and Self-Discovery 1992 pp. 82–88.
  • Egon Klemp: Georg Markgraf as a naturalist, surveyor and cartographer in Brazil (1638–1643). In: Cartographica Helvetica 8 (1993) pp. 44-46 full text
  • D. Bento José Pickel: Flora do Nordeste do Brasil segundo Piso e Marggrave no Século XVII . (Ed. Argus Vasconcelos de Alemida). Recife 2008.
  • Uta Lindgren :  Marggraf, Georg. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 16, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-428-00197-4 , p. 167 ( digitized version ).
  • Friedrich Ratzel :  Marcgraf, Georg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 20, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1884, p. 295 f.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Markgraf at Sächsische Biographie, accessed on February 17, 2019.
  2. ↑ Dardano de Andrade Lima, Anne Fox Maule, Troels Pedersen and Myndel Knud Rahn: Marcgrave's Brazilian Herbarium Collected 1638-44 . Botanisk Tidsskrift Volume LXXI 1977 pp 121-160.
  3. ↑ Peter Wagner 2008: The Margrave Herbarium . In: Gerhard Brunn and Cornelius Neutsch (Eds.) 2008 pp. 233–245.
  4. ^ A b Carl von Linné: Bibliotheca Botanica . Amsterdam 1751 pp. 163-164.
  5. ^ Marggraf: Prodromus medicinae practicae dogmaticae & vere rationalis. Superstructae circulari sanguinis motui, nec non principiis chemicis ac hypothesi Helmontianae & Sylvianae. Exhibens specimen methodi perquam facilis medendi plerisque corporis humani affectibus ope acidi & alkali. Leiden 1685 (Lione 1673?) [16 & 8 unpaginated pages (the latter = biography of his brother Georg) & 173 pages].
  6. ↑ Hinrich Lichtenstein: The works of Marcgrave and Piso on the natural history of Brazil, explained from the recovered original drawings . In: Treatises of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Berlin. Physical class. From the years 1814–1815 pp. 201–222, From the years 1816–1817 pp. 155–178, From the years 1820–1821 pp. 237–254 and From the years 1826 pp. 49–65. Berlin 1818-1829.
  7. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica in qua nomina plantarum generica, specifica; & variantia examini subjiciuntur, selectiora confirmantur, indigna rejiciuntur; simulque doctrina circa denominationem plantarum traditur fundamentorum botanicorum pars IV . Leiden 1737 p. 79.
  8. ↑ Norbert J. Pies: Paradiesnuß, Mangrovenbaumkrabbe und Co. Willem Pisos Taxonomisches Erbe , in: Pisonia, Further contributions to the facsimile edition 2008 of Willem Piso's book De Indiae Utriusque Re Naturali et Medica. Sprockhövel 2010S. 199-202 and pp. 228-230.
  9. ↑ Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius: Attempt of a commentary on the plants in the works of Marcgrav and Piso on Brazil, along with further discussions on the flora of this realm. I. Cryptogams . In: Treatises of the mathematical-physical class of the Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences 7, 5th Munich 1853 pp. 179–238.
  10. ^ Charles Plumier: Nova Plantarum Americanarum Genera . Leiden 1703, p. 7
  11. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 93
  12. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 232

Web links

Commons : Georg Marggraf  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Marggraf, Georg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German naturalist and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH September 20, 1610
PLACE OF BIRTH Liebstadt , Saxony
DATE OF DEATH January 1644
Place of death Sao Paulo de Loanda , Angola