Japetus Steenstrup

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Japetus Steenstrup

Johann (es) Japetus Smith Steenstrup (born March 8, 1813 in Vang , Norway ; † June 20, 1897 in Copenhagen ) was a Danish professor and naturalist ( botanist , zoologist and prehistoric ). He taught at the University of Copenhagen from 1845 . His botanical author abbreviation is “ Steenstr. "

life and work

Initially working as a lecturer for mineralogy at Sorø Akademi , Steenstrup discovered the generation change in animals (parasitic worms) in 1842 and presented important studies on peat moss and the prehistoric inhabitants of Denmark.

Steenstrup was appointed professor of zoology in Copenhagen in 1845 and director of the zoological museum in 1848. There were violent disputes about his appointment, which at times split the assembled Danish zoological guild into two camps. Henrik Nikolai Krøyer and Jørgen Matthias Christian Schiødte were among Steenstrup's opponents, and geologist Johann Georg Forchhammer was one of his sources .

In the middle of the 19th century, Steenstrup introduced the term Køkkenmøddinger as a technical term for mostly Stone Age clam heaps. The term quickly caught on in archeology . Steenstrup had been working on the heaps of finds from the remains of the marine and malaco fauna on the Danish coasts since 1837 . In 1848 a dispute broke out with the archaeologist Jens Jacob Asmussen Worsaae about the nature of the Køkkenmøddinger. From the scientific dispute, the government set up a commission of inquiry in 1850. The commission, to which besides Steenstrup and Worsaae belonged the geologist Forchhammer, laid the decisive foundations for the research of the Køkkenmøddinger and thus the Danish early history as a whole. Steenstrup had initially mistaken the Køkkenmøddinger for silted mussel beds; Tools found were left behind by the early humans in their search for oysters. Worsaae, on the other hand, interpreted the clam piles as “common eating places from the earliest times”. Steenstrup eventually revised his views.

In 1840 he traveled with Iceland. His finds of fossil plants from the Miocene were later described by Oswald Heer .

In 1856 Japetus Steenstrup became a foreign member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , in 1857 a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences , in 1858 a member of the Leopoldina and in 1859 a corresponding member of the Prussian Academy of Sciences . In 1860 he was elected a corresponding member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences .

In 1867 Steenstrup became a State Councilor, in 1861 a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and in 1873 of the Académie des Sciences in Paris. In 1877 he was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 1881 an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh . In 1885 he gave up his professorship.

He was the uncle of Knud Johannes Vogelius Steenstrup and father of the historian Johannes Steenstrup (1844-1935).

filming

The six-episode miniseries "Bryggeren" (1996-1997) drew a film portrait of brewery entrepreneur JC Jacobsen . In it, the Danish actor Robert Reinhold (* 1963) took on the role of the naturalist Japetus Steenstrup.

literature

Web links

Commons : Japetus Steenstrup  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wissen.de / Natur ( Memento of the original from November 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wissen.de
  2. ^ Japhet Steenstrup's membership entry at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on March 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ 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. 232.
  4. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter S. Académie des sciences, accessed on March 4, 2020 (French).
  5. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 10, 2020 .
  6. ↑ zeno.org
personal data
SURNAME Steenstrup, Japetus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Steenstrup, Johannes Japetus Smith (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish university professor and naturalist (botanist, zoologist and prehistorian)
DATE OF BIRTH March 8, 1813
PLACE OF BIRTH Vang , Norway
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1897
Place of death Copenhagen