Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin
Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (born July 4, 1744 in Tübingen , † July 27, 1774 in Achmedkent , today Dagestan in Russia ) was a German doctor , botanist and naturalist . He was a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences . Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ SGGmel. ".
Life
Gmelin was a son of Johann Konrad Gmelin (1707–1759) and his wife Maria Veronika Erhardt (1713–1797); the later pharmacist Christian Gottlob Gmelin (1749–1809) was his younger brother.
At the University of Tuebingen studied medicine and Gmelin could this study in 1763 with his promotion to the "Dr. med. ”successfully. Then he went to the University of Leiden ; there he concluded u. a. Friendship with Peter Simon Pallas . After another study visit at the Sorbonne in Paris with Michel Adanson , he returned to his hometown.
In 1767 he was appointed professor of botany in Saint Petersburg . In the following year he accepted a position in Tübingen and wanted to take up this position immediately after his research trip. At the request of Tsarina Catherine II , Gmelin undertook an expedition over the Valdai Heights , Moscow and Tula to Voronezh . From there it went on in the spring of 1769 via Cherkask and Tsaritsyn to Astrakhan .
From there Gmelin started his first expedition together with Peter Simon Pallas to Persia in 1770 ; the journey led through Derbent , Baku Sallian , Enzeli , Rescht , Gilan and Sari . He spent the winter in the Moravian settlement of Sarepta (now part of Volgograd) and married Anna (1744–1828), a daughter of the tsarist naval captain Jacob de Chappuzeau, there in 1770.
Together with Johann Anton Güldenstädt (1745–1781) and Iwan Iwanowitsch Lepjochin (1740–1802) Gmelin undertook a scientific journey through Russia. He particularly visited the areas west of the Don, Baku and the Persian provinces on the south coast of the Caspian Sea and the east side of the Caspian Sea.
On the way back from his second trip to Persia, he had not yet reached Kisljar when he was captured on February 5, 1774 by Kaitagen - Khan Amir Hamsa. While negotiating a ransom for his release, he died at the age of 30 on July 27 of the same year in Achmedkent in the Caucasus of the Ruhr . He is buried in the village of Kajakent , 30 km north of Achmedkent , where a tomb that has been preserved to this day was erected 100 years after his death.
Works
His main works are Historia fucorum (Petersburg 1768) and Journeys through Russia (Petersburg 1770–84, 4 volumes). He edited volumes 3 and 4 of the Flora Sibirica by Johann Georg Gmelin , his uncle, who also traveled to Siberia (1733–1743).
literature
- Moriz Gmelin: Gmelin, Samuel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 9, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1879, p. 273 f.
- Helmut Dolezal: Gmelin, Samuel. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 6, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1964, ISBN 3-428-00187-7 , p. 481 f. ( Digitized version ).
- Dirk Fischer: Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin (1744–1774): The fate of a German doctor in Russia in the century of the Enlightenment . Shaker Verlag, Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-8322-7453-5 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin in the catalog of the German National Library
- Author entry and list of the plant names described for Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin at the IPNI
- Correspondence between Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin and Carl von Linné
Individual evidence
- ↑ The last path of academician Samuel Gottlieb Gmelin in Dagestanskaja Prawda on May 22, 2008 (Russian; photo)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gmelin, Samuel Gottlieb |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German botanist and naturalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th July 1744 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tübingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 27, 1774 |
| Place of death | Achmedkent ( Dagestan ) |