Gustav Brandes (zoologist)

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Badge in the Dresden Zoo
Professor Brandes House in Dresden Zoo
Parasitological report of findings from Brandes on a postcard of the Halle Zoo

Gustav Philipp Hermann Brandes (born May 2, 1862 in Schöningen ; † July 17, 1941 in Dresden ) was a German zoologist, with special merits as a parasitologist, university teacher and zoo director in Halle and later Dresden.

Life

Gustav Brandes grew up in Helmstedt and did his military service in Freiburg , where he began studying botany in 1884 . At the same time he attended lectures by August Weismann and then began to become increasingly enthusiastic about zoology . 1886 changed fire to the University of Leipzig , was a pupil there zoologist Rudolf Leuckart and received his doctorate in 1888 with the thesis about the family of Holostomeae Dr. phil. After a research stay at the Zoological Station in Naples , Brandes went to the University of Halle as an assistant in October 1889 . On October 21, 1891, the habilitation followed with the thesis on the finer construction of trematodes . The young private lecturer was drawn to the marine and zoological stations of Rovigno and Naples several times during the semester break .

Brandes supported the establishment of a zoological garden in Halle from the start. On April 1, 1902, he became director of the still young zoo. Brandes continued his work in the service of the university and was appointed titular professor at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in 1909.

His move to the Dresden Zoo on July 1, 1910 almost failed because Brandes did not want to give up his academic teaching activities. Initially as an unscheduled professor, later as an honorary professor, Brandes finally taught at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Dresden and, after it was moved to Leipzig, at the Technical University of Dresden . As a university lecturer, Brandes was the signatory of the professors' commitment to Adolf Hitler at German universities and colleges on November 11, 1933. Hans Petzsch was his last doctoral student and he took his position as zoo director from 1937 to 1945.

After an intrigue by the city administration, which culminated in the bankruptcy of the Zoo-Aktiengesellschaft and the subsequent transfer of the zoo into municipal ownership, Brandes resigned as zoo director in 1934, as the unity of the scientific and business zoo management, which he always categorically demanded, was no longer guaranteed.

Services

As zoo director, Brandes did not collect animals according to zoological-systematic criteria, as was common at the time, but placed great value on educating zoo visitors to enjoy nature. Brandes showed the zoo animals in a natural context that corresponds to the biology of the respective animal (e.g. crags in the Halle Zoo, orangutan cage in the Dresden Zoo). In 1927 Brandes succeeded in rearing an orangutan in a zoological garden in Dresden .

Brandes was a member of numerous scientific societies and academies. From 1893 to 1910 he served as editor of the Zeitschrift für Naturwissenschaften and from 1893 to 1906 as editor of the treatises of the Natural Research Society in Halle .

Works

  • Buschi. From the orange baby to the cheekbones. Quelle & Meyer, Leipzig 1939.
  • around 280 scientific and popular scientific publications

literature

  • Robert Volz: Reich manual of the German society . The handbook of personalities in words and pictures. Volume 1: A-K. German business publisher, Berlin 1930, DNB 453960286 .
  • Otto Antonius: Gustav Brandes in memory. In: The Zoological Garden. New Series, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1942, pp. 123-125.
  • Ludwig Baumgarten: Chronicle of the zoological garden in Halle. Part 1: 1901-1945. Halle Zoological Garden, Halle 2001, ISBN 3-931950-34-4 .
  • Paul Eipper, Magda Friedrich: Gustav Brandes on his 75th birthday. May 2, 1937. Dedicated by friends and students. Private printing. Friedrich, [Dresden] 1937.
  • Winfried Gensch: Professor Dr. Gustav Brandes in memory. In: Messages from the Dresden Zoological Garden. New Series, No. 2, 1987, pp. 10-16.
  • Mustafa Haikal, Winfried Gensch: The song of the orangutan. The history of the Dresden Zoo. Edition Sächsische Zeitung, Dresden 2011, ISBN 978-3-938325-85-8 .
  • Adolf Kleinschmidt:  Brandes, Gustav. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1955, ISBN 3-428-00183-4 , p. 520 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Hans Petzsch : Gustav Brandes and his legacy. In: Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. Mathematical and natural science series. Vol. 2, No. 11, 1953, 801-815.
  • Kurt Priemel: The zoo gardener Professor Dr. Gustav Brandes on completion of the 75th year of life. In: The Zoological Garden. New series, Vol. 9, No. 3/4, 1937, pp. 97-100.
  • Wolfgang Ullrich: History and stories from the Dresden Zoo. 2. Part of the Festschrift for the 100th anniversary of the Dresden Zoological Garden. Dresden 1961.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Brandes, Gustav
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brandes, Gustav Philipp Hermann
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH May 2, 1862
PLACE OF BIRTH Schöningen
DATE OF DEATH July 17, 1941
Place of death Dresden