Johannes Schmidt (biologist)

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Ernst Johannes Schmidt (born January 2, 1877 in Jaegerspris ; † February 21, 1933 ) was a Danish biologist who discovered that European eels migrate to the Sargasso Sea to reproduce .

Life

Schmidt began studying natural history at the University of Copenhagen . In 1898 he wrote his doctoral thesis on mangroves in Siam . In 1902 he switched to marine biology . In 1909 Schmidt was given a position as head of the department for physiology at the Carlsberg Research Center , which he kept until the end of his life. He undertook several expeditions to the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. His botanical author's abbreviation (he particularly described algae) is " EJSchmidt ".

As early as 1896, Grassi and Calandruccio described that the fish described as Leptocephalus brevirostris is the larva of the eel. In 1904 Schmidt was able to raise money for research into the spawning grounds of the eel. From 1905 to 1910 he sailed the entire western Atlantic with the research ship Thor . Later, the area of ​​origin of the willow leaf larvae of the eel (Leptocephali) , which were flattened on the sides, could be narrowed down. Research was suspended during the First World War. In 1920 Schmidt managed to get the Dana engine schooner. On the Dana expedition in 1922 he found the smallest leptocephalus to date in the Sargasso Sea south of Bermuda . From the size distribution of the larvae, Schmidt formulated the development of the eels.

In 1924 he was accepted as a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . In 1927 he became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh .

literature

  • Erwin Hentschel, Günther Wagner: Dictionary of Zoology. 7th edition. Elsevier, Munich / Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8274-1479-2 , page 466, article "Schmidt, Johannes Ernst"

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Drost: The spawning area of ​​the eel. Report on the work of Dr. Joh. Schmidt (Copenhagen): The Breeding Places of the Eel . In: Natural Sciences . tape 10 , no. 51 , December 1, 1922, p. 1089-1096 , doi : 10.1007 / BF01591830 .
  2. ↑ Alejandro Lipschütz : On the general physiology of hunger . Vieweg-Verlag, 1915, ISBN 978-3-663-05499-3 , p. 54 ( Google Books ).
  3. ^ List of members since 1666: Letter S. Académie des sciences, accessed on February 27, 2020 (French).
  4. ^ Fellows Directory. Biographical Index: Former RSE Fellows 1783–2002. (PDF file) Royal Society of Edinburgh, accessed April 6, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Schmidt, Johannes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Schmidt, Ernst Johannes (full name); EJSchmidt (botanical author abbreviation)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Danish eel researcher
DATE OF BIRTH January 2, 1877
PLACE OF BIRTH Jaegerspris
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1933