Karl von Ditmar

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Karl von Ditmar
Coat of arms of the noble family von Ditmar

Karl von Ditmar (* August 27 . Jul / 8. September  1822 greg. In Vana-Vändra , † April 13 jul. / 25. April  1892 greg. In Tartu ) was a Baltic German explorer and naturalist. He is considered one of the most important explorers of Kamchatka in the 19th century.

Origin and family

Karl Woldemar Bernhard Ferdinand von Ditmar came from the long established noble family von Ditmar . His ancestors belonged to the Livonia and Estonia branch . His father was the landlord Woldemar Friedrich von Ditmar (1794 - 1826), who was a private lecturer in Roman law and Livonian criminal law at the University of Dorpat , his mother was Charlotte Juliane von Stackelberg (1804 - 1880). Karl Woldemar married Anna Wilhelmine (Minna) Elisabeth Freiin von Stackelberg (1837 - 1929), their descendants were:

  • Caroline Wilhelmine Anna von Ditmar (* 1858), married to Alexander Konstantin von Renteln (* 1857)
  • Martha Charlotte von Ditmar (* 1860, † 1952 in Brussels ), married to Baron Woldemar Karl Heinrich Alexander von Uexküll (1860-1952)
  • Anna Elisabeth Maria von Ditmar (* 1862)
  • Minna Jeanette von Ditmar (1864-1882)

education

Karl von Ditmar was born as the son of the landlord of Vana-Vändra (German Alt-Fennern ) in today's Pärnu district. The father, Woldemar Friedrich Karl von Ditmar (1794–1826). Karl Woldemar attended a private high school in Võru from 1832 to 1840 . He then studied from 1841 to 1846 at the University of Tartu, first economics , then geology . From 1846 to 1850 he was a guest student at the University of Leipzig , at the Bergakademie Freiberg and at the Friedrich Wilhelms University in Berlin with Gustav Rose (1798–1873).

Trip to Kamchatka

In 1850, Ditmar received an invitation from the Governor General of East Siberia, Nikolai Murawjow (1809–1881), and the local military governor to undertake a geological mountain expedition to Kamchatka. Von Ditmar was supported in his application by the well-known Petersburg Siberia researcher Alexander Theodor von Middendorff (1815-1894).

On the way from Western Europe to Siberia, von Ditmar carried out, among other things, in-depth research in Yakutsk and examined ice hollows in the Siberian landscape further west. Before the onset of winter 1851, von Ditmar and two accompanying soldiers reached Kamchatka for the first time. The harsh climate and the inhospitable landscape made the work of the expedition difficult . She moved mainly on rivers. In addition, the Sredinny ridge had to be overcome. Between 1851 and 1854 von Ditmar undertook nine larger and smaller research trips to Kamchatka, during which he familiarized himself with the geological structure of Kamchatka and its natural resources. He also collected a large amount of botanical and ethnographic material. He recorded his impressions in detailed diaries. In 1856 he published the first geological map of Kamchatka.

Research work

Ditmar's particular interest was the volcanism of Kamchatka. He believed that the volcanoes were connected to each other by tunnels. Von Ditmar also named seventeen volcanoes that had previously remained undiscovered. He described in detail the eruption of the Avacha volcano on May 27, 1855.

In the summer of 1858 von Ditmar stayed in Berlin to discuss his theses and views with the leading geologists and mineralogists of the time. His collection caused a sensation. Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) loaned the petrological collection , which is officially subordinate to the Mineralogy Museum in Saint Petersburg, with the complete catalog from Ditmar . After Humboldt's death, it was tragically thought to be lost. It was only found again much later in Berlin.

Ditmars' ethnographic research is of particular interest. He described the customs and traditions of the indigenous people of Kamchatka, especially the Itelmens and Koryaks , who were already described by Ditmar as being strongly Russified, and the Chukchi . He was the first to demonstrate the linguistic relationship between Chukchi and Koryak .

Return to Livonia

In 1851 Ditmar's mother bought the Käru manor in the parish of Vändra for her son . Von Ditmar retired there after his return from Kamchatka. There he founded Livonia's first kindergarten . Since 1880 he was Schulrevident and order judges in Tartu and Werro , the order of the District Court Dorpat. From 1857 to 1887 he published only a few articles about his trips to Kamchatka, gave a few lectures and dealt almost entirely with his estate. It was not until 1887 that he moved to Dorpat to devote himself to science again. In February 1890 his monograph on the voyages of discovery was completed. In it he shows himself to be a master of precise descriptions of landscapes and nature and a good draftsman.

Karl von Ditmar died in 1892. He is buried in Tartu today. The second part of his monograph did not appear posthumously until 1900. A 1301 m high volcano ( location ) on Kamchatka is named after von Ditmar . A forest hyacinth he describes bears the name Plathantera ditmariana .

Works

  • Contributions to the knowledge of the Russian Empire and the neighboring countries of Asia. Episode 3. Edited by Leopold von Schrenck and Carl Johann Maximowicz . Volume 7. Travel and stay in Kamchatka in the years 1851-1855 / Karl von Ditmar. Part 1. Historical report according to the diaries. Sankt Peterburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences 1890.
  • Contributions to the knowledge of the Russian Empire and the neighboring countries of Asia. Episode 3. Edited by Leopold von Schrenck and Carl Johann Maximowicz. Volume 8. Travel and stay in Kamchatka in the years 1851 - 1855 / Karl von Ditmar. Part 2. General information about Kamchatka. Abth. 1. Saint Petersburg: Imperial Academy of Sciences 1900 (posthumous)

Reprint of both volumes in 1970

literature

  • Tammiksaar, Erki: "Carl von Ditmar, 1822-92: a geologist in Kamchatka" In: Polar Record 2003, pp. 248-250

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ditmar, Karl von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Baltic German explorer and naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH September 8, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH Vana-Vändra
DATE OF DEATH April 25, 1892
Place of death Tartu