Gustaf from Paykull

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Gustaf von Paykull (1757–1826)

Gustaf von Paykull (born August 21, 1757 in Stockholm ; † January 28, 1826 on the Wallox-Saby estate in Uppland ) was a Swedish baron (roughly a baron ) and a specialist in ornithology and entomology .

Life

His parents were artillery major Karl Friedrich Paykull, who was noble in Sweden in 1756, and his wife Beate Charlotte Simming.

In 1779 he became a clerk in the Foreign Office, in 1781 he became a copier and in 1783 he became a protocol secretary. In 1794 he was first secretary and in 1796 deputy director. In 1815 he also received the title of court marshal.

At a young age he tried his hand at poetry and was a member of a group called Utile Dulci . He published a translation of Anacreon's Sappho, Bion, Moschus and Musaeus . He also published some comedies, but that did not satisfy him, so he turned to science.

He is setting up a natural history museum on his Wallox-Saby estate, whose collection of birds and insects was one of the largest in Scandinavia. He had intensive contacts with his colleagues at home and abroad. He became a member of several scientific academies and also the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences from 1791 and founder of the natural history museum Naturhistoriska riksmuseet in Stockholm . In 1798 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1802 he was elected a foreign member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences . In 1804 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

In recognition of his achievements, he also received the title of baron in 1818.

On March 24, 1819, he donated his collection to the Swedish king, who commissioned the academy to find a suitable building. Transporting the show was an adventure in itself, a caravan of horse-drawn wagons carrying stuffed camels, zebras, snakes and other animals. The event was captured in numerous contemporary paintings.

family

He was married three times. In 1790 Frein Anna Elisabet Ehrensvärd became his first wife. In 1795 he married Johanna Möller and in 1807 Anna Katarina Sandels .

Publications (selection)

  • Domald. 1783, a tragedy, digitized.
  • Monographia Histeroidum. Upsaliae: Palmblad iv 114 pp. (1811), digitized.
  • Fauna Suecica. Insecta, Coleoptera. Upsala: Edman 3 volumes (1798, 1799, 1800): Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3.
  • Monographia Staphylinorum Sueciae. 1789, digitized.
  • Monographia Caraborum Sueciae. 1790, digitized.
  • Monographia Curculionum sveciæ. 1792, digitized.
  • Tal om djur-Kännedomens historia. 1794, digitized.

Paykull's collection is in the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

literature

  • Gustaf from Paykull . In: Herman Hofberg, Frithiof Heurlin, Viktor Millqvist, Olof Rubenson (eds.): Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon . 2nd Edition. tape 2 : L – Z, including supplement . Albert Bonniers Verlag, Stockholm 1906, p. 257 (Swedish, runeberg.org ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see entry in the membership directory of the Leopoldina
  2. ↑ Holger Krahnke: The members of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen 1751-2001 (= Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Philological-Historical Class. Volume 3, Vol. 246 = Treatises of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen, Mathematical-Physical Class. Episode 3, vol. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-525-82516-1 , p. 186.
personal data
SURNAME Paykull, Gustaf von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swedish naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 21, 1757
PLACE OF BIRTH Stockholm
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1826
Place of death Gut Wallox-Saby, Uppland