Heinrich Rudolf Schinz

Heinrich Rudolf Schinz

Heinrich Rudolf Schinz (* thirtieth March 1777 in Zurich , † 8. March 1861 ) was a Swiss zoologist of the 19th century and the author of numerous monographs on individual species and the Swiss fauna .

Life

After Schinz had attended high school in Zurich, he went to study medicine in Würzburg and later to Jena , from where he returned to Zurich as a doctor in 1798. There he became a teacher at the medical institute in 1804 and, in 1833, associate professor of natural history at the newly founded University of Zurich . In 1821 he was elected a member of the Leopoldina . In 1845 Schinz was introduced by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville as member number 300 of the Société cuviérienne .

Schinz belonged to the Zurich Natural Research Society , for which he worked as secretary, board member and curator of the zoological collection. When the collection became the property of the Canton of Zurich in 1837 , he remained its curator.

As a zoologist, he specialized in vertebrates , especially mammals (mammalogy) and birds ( ornithology ), but he also translated Georges Cuvier's work “Le règne animal” into German. He became known to a wider public for his richly illustrated popular science books on vertebrates and humans, which appeared between 1824 and 1852.

Honors

The mushroom genus Schinzia Nägeli is named after him.

Works

• Natural history and illustrations of the mammals. Brodtmanns lithographische Kunstanstalt , 1st edition Zurich 1824 and 2nd improved edition 1927.
• Natural history and illustrations of reptiles. Weidmann, Leipzig 1833 ( digitized version ).
• Natural history and illustrations of humans and mammals. J. Honegger lithographic institute, 1st edition, Zurich without date (1835).
• Natural history and illustrations of fish. Weidmann, Leipzig 1836 ( digitized in the digital library Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania).
• Natural history and illustrations of humans and mammals, edited by HR Schinz based on the latest discoveries and the most exquisite originals. Honegger Lithographische Anstalt, 2nd improved edition, Zurich 184.
• Natural history and illustrations of the people and the various races and tribes based on the latest discoveries and the most exquisite originals, edited by HR Schinz. Honegger Lithographische Anstalt, 3rd expanded edition, Zurich 1845.
• Systematic index of all mammals known to date or Synopsis Mammalium, according to Cuvier's system. Jent and Gassmann, Solothurn 1845.
• European Fauna, or, Directory of Vertebrates of Europe. Stuttgart 1840 doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.63801 .
• Société Cuvierienne: Nouveaux membres admis dans la Société curvienne . In: Revue Zoologique par La Société Cuvierienne . tape 8 , 1845, p. 464 ( biodiversitylibrary.org ).

literature

• Peter Bolz: Karl Bodmer , Heinrich Rudolf Schinz and the change in the image of the Indians in Europe. Pages 66–85 in: North America Native Museum Zurich (Karin Isernhagen): Karl Bodmer. A Swiss Artist in America 1809-1893. A Swiss artist in America. Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2009. ISBN 978-3-85881-236-0
• Vincent Ziswiler: Heinrich Rudolf Schinz. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . August 8, 2011 , accessed January 30, 2020 .

Web links

• Otto Hunziker :  Schinz, Heinrich Rudolf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 31, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1890, pp. 303-305.
• Heinrich Rudolf Schinz (1777–1861) ( Memento from November 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
• Overview of Heinrich Rudolf Schinz's courses at the University of Zurich (summer semester 1833 to summer semester 1853)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Société cuviérienne, p. 206.
2. ↑ 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 .