Peter Ascanius

Peter Ascanius (born May 24, 1723 in Aure , † July 4, 1803 in Copenhagen ) was a Norwegian zoologist and mineralogist.

Peter Ascanius, around 1788

Ascanius was the son of a pastor and, after attending the Cathedral School in Trondheim , studied medicine at the University of Copenhagen from 1742, which he completed five years later with a bachelor's degree. From 1752 he studied natural history for some time in Uppsala with Carl von Linné and metallurgy with Johan Gottschalk Wallerius . He then went on a study trip to the Netherlands, England, France, Italy and Austria with a grant from the Danish King from 1753 to 1758. From 1759 to 1771 he taught zoology and from 1760 mineralogy in Copenhagen (Charlottenburg) at the newly founded natural and household cabinet. From 1767 he published a number of zoological illustrated books. In 1768 he went on an inspection trip along the Norwegian coast from Kristiansand to Bergen. When the Natural History and Household Cabinet was dissolved in 1771 (the teaching of natural history and mineralogy was taken over from the University of Copenhagen by the student of Ascanius Morten Thrane Brünnich ) Ascanius became a miners' assistant in Kongsberg , where he supervised mines and taught mineralogy and mining.

In 1772 he first described the strap fish Regalecus glesne . He named it after the place where it was found (1770) Glaesnaes in Norway.

In 1753 he published an essay on the iron ore deposits in Taberg in Sweden, which was also translated into English and appeared in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1755/56.

In 1755 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society .

Fonts

Icones rerum naturalium, 5 volumes, Copenhagen 1767 to 1777 (the fifth volume was published by Jens Rathke after his death in 1806), volume 1, digitized, Göttingen

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personal data
SURNAME	Ascanius, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Norwegian zoologist and mineralogist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 24, 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH	Aure
DATE OF DEATH	4th July 1803
Place of death	Copenhagen