Jacob Theodor Klein

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Jacob Theodor Klein.

Jacob Theodor Klein (born August 15, 1685 in Königsberg (Prussia) , † February 27, 1759 in Danzig ) was an East Prussian legal and historical scholar , zoologist , botanist , mathematician and diplomat . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is " Klein ".

Life

Jakob Theodor Klein was born on August 15, 1685 in Königsberg. His father was the Prussian court judge advocate Jacob Klein. Klein was first taught by his father and private tutors and then received legal, scientific and historical training at the Königsberg Academy. From 1706 to 1713 he traveled to England, Germany, Austria and Sweden. In 1713 he settled in Gdansk, where he became city secretary. As such, he went to Dresden and Warsaw as a lawyer and diplomat in 1714 and later to other cities. For example, he represented Danzig in 1737–38 when a daughter of August III was married. with the King of Sicily (1716–1788).

Klein was married three times. The daughter Dorothea Juliana Klein was born from the first marriage with Anna Katharina Reyger (1675–1744). The second wife (Dorothea, widowed Gerlach) gave birth to three children, of which only Theresa Katharina lived longer. The third marriage to Maria Elisabeth Longwaldt remained childless.

In the last years of his life, Klein suffered from several pneumonia and finally fell into a coma ( apallic syndrome ). He died on February 27, 1759.

Natural history collections

As a teenager, Klein began collecting animals and plants in the vicinity of Königsberg. At first he was more interested in botany than zoology. In 1718 he set up a botanical garden on the outskirts of Gdansk, which soon became well known. Small employed amber and fossil collectors and acquired, for example, an extensive collection of conchylia from Amsterdam. He built his own building for his natural history cabinet on the edge of the garden ("Museum Kleinianum"). He later used the numerous trips he made as a diplomat to build up one of the largest private natural history collections of the 18th century.

For reasons that remained unclear, Klein sold his collection in 1740 to Margrave Friedrich von Brandenburg-Bayreuth , who had it installed in Bayreuth Castle . The exhibits were later transferred to Erlangen, where they formed the basis of the collection of the university , which was newly founded in 1743 .

The sea ​​urchins were given to the Zoological State Collection (possibly in exchange for other marine animals). Some of them could be identified beyond doubt in the Zoological State Collection in Munich based on the illustrations of Klein's work (Naturalis Disposito Echinodermatum, 1734). It is scientifically valuable type material .

Scientific work

Klein was particularly concerned with questions of zoological systematics and established his own system of classifying animals based on the number, shape and position of the limbs . Its system is used to structure to identify and recognize animals (classification system). The term “ Echinodermata ” goes back to Klein . Klein was in dispute with Carl von Linné about the zoological system , and he rejected his approach. For his work in the field of natural history Klein had been awarded membership of various scientific societies, including March 6, 1729 that of the Royal Society . He was a founding member of the Natural Research Society in Gdansk , he was respectfully called "Pliny Gedanensium" (the " Pliny the Danzig"). In 1741 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Prussian Society of Sciences . Since 1755 he was an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg . He was the father-in-law of Gdańsk mayor Daniel Gralath .

He was also the correspondent of the pastor and polyhistor Friedrich Christian Lesser (1692–1754) in Nordhausen / Thuringia.

Dedication names

Carl von Linné named the genus Kleinia of the sunflower family (Asteraceae) in his honor .

Fonts (selection)

  • Natural order and increased history of the four-legged animals. Schuster, Danzig 1760 pm
  • Preparation for a complete bird history. Schmidt, Leipzig, Lübeck 1760 pm
  • Stemmata avium. Holle, Leipzig 1759.
  • Tentamen herpetologiae. Luzac jun., Leiden, Göttingen 1755.
  • Doutes ou observations de M. Klein, sur la revûe des animaux, faite par le premier homme, sur quelques animaux des classes des quadrupedes & amphibies du systême de la nature, de M. Linnaeus. Bauche, Paris 1754.
  • Ordre naturel des oursins de mer et fossiles, avec des observations sur les piquans des oursins de mer, et quelques remarques sur les bélemnites… Bauche, Paris 1754.
  • Tentamen methodi ostracologicæ sive Dispositio naturalis cochlidum et concharum in suas classes, genera et species. Wishoff, Leiden 1753.
  • Quadrupedum dispositio brevisque historia naturalis. Schmidt, Leipzig 1751.
  • Historiae avium prodromus. Schmidt, Lübeck 1750.
  • Mantissa ichtyologica de sono et auditu piscium sive Disquisitio rationum, quibus autor epistolae in Bibliotheca Gallica de auditu piscium, omnes pisces mutos surdosque esse, contendit. Leipzig 1746.
  • Historiæ piscium naturalis promovendæ missus quartus de piscibus per branchias apertas spirantibus ad justum numerum et ordinem redigendis. Gleditsch & Schreiber, Leipzig, Danzig 1744 ( online ).
  • Summa dubiorum circa classes quadrupedum et amphibiorum in celebris domini Caroli Linnaei systemate naturae. Leipzig, Danzig 1743.
  • Naturalis dispositio echinodermatum. Schreiber, Danzig 1734. (German translation, with comments and additions, see below)
  • Descriptiones tubulorum marinorum. Knoch, Danzig 1731.
  • To Tithymaloides. Schreiber, Danzig 1730.

literature

Web links

Commons : Jacob Theodor Klein  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Armin Geus: Natural order and biodiversity in the work of the natural scientist Jacob Theodor Klein (1685–1759). In: Thomas Heinzeller (Ed.) Natural history of the sea urchins. Basilisken-Presse, Tangsdorf 2014, ISBN 978-3-941365-03-2 , pp. 271-310, here p. 274
  2. ↑ Armin Geus: Natural order and biodiversity in the work of the natural scientist Jacob Theodor Klein (1685–1759). In: Thomas Heinzeller (Ed.) Natural history of the sea urchins. Basilisken-Presse, Tangsdorf 2014, ISBN 978-3-941365-03-2 , pp. 271-310, here p. 276
  3. ^ Armin Geus: Yearbook for Franconian State Research. 30, 1970, p. 3.
  4. ^ Armin Geus: Yearbook for Franconian State Research. 30, 1970, p. 1.
  5. ↑ Ruthensteiner, B. 2014, in Heinzeller (ed.) Natural history of the sea urchins, Basilisken Presse, pp. 17-23
  6. ↑ entry on small; Jacobus Theodorus (1685–1759) in the Archives of the Royal Society , London
  7. ^ Members of the previous academies. Jakob Theodor Klein. Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities , accessed on April 13, 2015 .
  8. ^ Foreign members of the Russian Academy of Sciences since 1724. Jacob Theodor Klein. Russian Academy of Sciences, accessed September 8, 2015 .
  9. ^ Carl von Linné: Critica Botanica . Leiden 1737, p. 93.
  10. ↑ Carl von Linné: Genera Plantarum . Leiden 1742, p. 394.
personal data
SURNAME Klein, Jacob Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Klein, Jacob Théodore; Klein, Jakub Teodor; Kleinius, Jacobus Theodorus; Klein, Théodore
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prussian legal and historical scholar, botanist, mathematician and diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH August 15, 1685
PLACE OF BIRTH Königsberg (Prussia)
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1759
Place of death Danzig