Leopold Fitzinger

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Leopold Josef Fitzinger, lithograph by Adolf Dauthage , 1859
Leopold Fitzinger (1802-1884)

Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (born April 13, 1802 in Vienna , † September 20, 1884 in Hietzing ) was an Austrian zoologist . He had as a child of nature and especially for Botany interested.

Professional career

At the age of 14 he first became an apprentice to a pharmacist and also began studying botany at the University of Vienna with Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin . He broke off this in 1817 in order to take care of the orphaned reptiles and fish collection at the age of 15 - initially as a "voluntary intern" - at the Vienna Natural History Museum under the direction of Jacquin's brother-in-law Karl Franz Anton von Schreiber . Because no permanent position was predictable in the "Imperial Royal Zoological Hof Cabinets", took Fitzinger 1821 a job as a secretary at the Estates of Lower Austria on, but was temporarily exempted therefrom to the museum collection to serve on.

Not until 1844 was Fitzinger appointed head of the reptile and mammal collections. In 1861 he retired, but in 1863 he became director of the zoo that was then to be built in the English Garden in Munich . He also set up a new zoo in Budapest , but resigned from the management when it opened. In 1873 he moved to Hietzing, where he died in 1884.

Theory and works

Influenced by the natural philosophical views of his colleagues Lorenz Oken , Johann Baptist von Spix and Johann Jakob Kaup , Fitzinger was convinced that the diversity of living beings corresponded to a given, unchangeable order. Accordingly, the numbers 3 and 5 must be found in the classification of the animal kingdom. So he only chose taxonomic classifications that corresponded to this scheme and rejected Charles Darwin's theories of evolution .

Fitzinger developed a wide range of topics in zoology.

Fitzinger published one of his most important works in 1826: the “ New Classification of Reptiles According to Their Natural Relationship ”, which was partly based on the work of his friends Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich and Heinrich Boie . After numerous collecting trips through the country, in 1832 he wrote a “ directory of the mammals, reptiles and fish occurring in the Archduchy of Austria ”.

His “ draft of a systematic arrangement of turtles according to the principles of the natural method ” from 1835 was scientifically significant at the time .

In 1843 his next major work " Systema Reptilium " appeared.

Further works were " About the Proteus anguineus Auctorum " (1850) and " The yield of the Austrian naturalists on mammals and reptiles during the circumnavigation of the Sr. Majesty Frigate Novara " (1861). In 1864 he published a well-known atlas of all reptiles and amphibians worldwide. In 1876 he wrote “ The dog and his races. Natural history of the tame dog, its forms, races and crossbreeds ”.

Many of the descriptions and assignments he made to animal genera and species are still valid today.

Honors

In recognition of his scientific work, Leopold Fitzinger received an honorary doctorate from the Universities of Königsberg (1833) and Halle (1834).

Academies in Vienna , Naples , Philadelphia and numerous scholarly associations made him an honorary member. From 1856 he was a member of the Leopoldina .

Fonts

Fitzinger published several scientific papers in the field of zoology, including:

  • New classification of reptiles according to their natural relatives: in addition to a relatives table and an index of the reptile collection of the KK zoological museum in Vienna. Vienna 1826, ( digitized version )
  • Systematic index of the molluscs occurring in the Archduchy of Austria: as a prodrome of a fauna of the same. 1833. ( digitized version )
  • Systema reptilium. Fasciculus primus, Amblyglossae. Vienna 1842, ( digitized version )
  • About the system and characteristics of the natural families of birds. Vienna 1856–1864, ( digitized version )
  • Scientific-popular natural history of mammals in all their main forms: together with an introduction to natural history in general and to the doctrine of animals in particular. Vienna 1860–1861, ( digitized version )
  • Scientific-popular natural history of birds in all their main forms. Vienna 1862–1863, ( digitized version )
  • Picture atlas on the scientifically popular natural history of mammals in all their main forms. Lausanne 1860. ( digitized version )
  • Picture atlas on the scientifically popular natural history of birds in all their main forms. Vienna 1864, doi: 10.5962 / bhl.title.48612 , ( digitized )
  • Picture atlas on the scientifically popular natural history of amphibians in all their main forms. Vienna 1864, ( digitized version )
  • Picture atlas on the scientifically popular natural history of fish in all their main forms. Vienna 1864, ( digitized version )
  • Picture atlas on the scientifically popular natural history of vertebrates. Vienna 1867. ( digitized version )
  • The species and races of chickens. Vienna 1878, ( digitized version )

literature

Web links

Commons : Leopold Fitzinger  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Leopold Fitzinger  - Sources and full texts
personal data
SURNAME Fitzinger, Leopold
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Fitzinger, Leopold Joseph Franz Johann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 13, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna
DATE OF DEATH September 20, 1884
Place of death Hietzing