Squidward Haenke

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Thaddäus Haenke, copperplate engraving by Vinzenz Grüner
Memorial plaque on the house where Thaddäus Haenke was born in Kreibitz

Thaddäus Xaverius Peregrinus Haenke , Czech Tadeáš Haenke , in non-German texts and publications also Tadeo Haenke (born  December 6, 1761 in Kreibitz (Czech Chřibská), Bohemia ; †  November 14, 1816 in Cochabamba , Bolivia ) was a Bohemian- Habsburg, k. k. Austrian geographer , chemist , botanist , PhD philosopher , polymath , musician and explorer . His botanical author abbreviation is " Haenke ".

Life

Thaddäus Haenke came from the German-speaking Friedrich family of glassmakers in northern Bohemia. Because of his high and versatile talents (first Montgolfière in Bohemia in 1784) in artistic (music, drawing) and scientific terms, various sponsors enabled him to study at Charles University in Prague from 1780 to 1789 and further studies in Vienna in medicine , chemistry , astronomy and botany . Researchers like Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin and Ignaz von Born , musicians like Baron Gottfried van Swieten and Emperor Joseph II himself recommended him to the Spanish government in 1789 as an accompanying scientist for the upcoming expedition led by Alessandro Malaspina di Mulazzo (1789-1794) in the Pacific and its adjacent coastal regions for their scientific exploration, which corresponded to a circumnavigation of the world . When Thaddäus Haenke wanted to join her in the Spanish port of departure, Cádiz, as planned, he allegedly missed his ship by a full two hours, for which he had traveled arduously across revolutionary France for weeks from Vienna . Haenke decided to embark on the next sailor to Argentina . In the La Plata estuary , however, the ship capsized and Haenke was able to escape along with only a few belongings with whom he the Andes towards Chile crossed on foot to get in Santiago de Chile still happy on 2 April 1790 the Malaspina- Expedition to encounter.

On the subsequent research trip , the universal scholar collected several thousand plants ( herbaria ), insects and prepared animals , which he sent to Madrid . He cataloged languages of the locals and made it studies on ethnology and ethno linguistics , examined the Pacific volcanoes and hot springs on the Philippines , which particularly interested him medically, the (then) Peru silver mines ( Potosí ), in Ecuador rivers and their courses. He was the first European to climb Chimborazo (1804) and other Andean peaks. His travel and research activities later earned him the name “Austrian Humboldt”. Malaspina named Haenke Island in Disenchantment Bay in Alaska after him. Malaspina's trip around the world lasted another three years. In July 1793 he left the expedition in Callao (port of Lima ).

Thaddäus Haenke traveled to the South American continent from 1793 to 1810 . In April 1794 he examined the Misti , then called "Arequipa volcano". Haenke's sketches of Misti and Ubinas are probably the oldest drawings of both volcanoes.

In 1810 he settled in Cochabamba ( Bolivia ), where he married the mestizo Sebastiana Orozco and had a son.

Haenke was always viewed suspiciously as an outsider by the state and society. He continued to work on behalf of the Spanish ministries of the viceroys in Lima and Buenos Aires . To this end, he took on research assignments in which he carried out geographical and cartographic , botanical and zoological , mineralogical and geological studies, continued chemical tests and pharmaceutical experiments in order to recommend scientifically sound development projects and, if possible, to carry them out himself. He improved copper extraction and glass production in Cochabamba, introduced a self-developed and effective vaccination against smallpox - the first in South America - and opened South America's first pharmacies , which he supplied with products from a self-established pharmaceutical factory . During these activities he made friends with the local population, who still value him today, learned their languages ​​and studied their shamanic- medical healing methods. He is considered to be one of the great forerunners of Alexander von Humboldt in regional studies .

His work in Peru , Bolivia and Chile helped his smallpox vaccination, among other things, to achieve the final breakthrough due to the noticeable prophylactic effect (lowering the death rate), which earned him the greatest recognition on the part of the Indians. Due to his high musical talent, he gave music concerts mainly by contemporary composers ( Mozart , Haydn ) with his harpsichord and sheet music, which he had brought from Austria through his brother , found a process for converting Chile nitrate and potassium chloride into potassium nitrate on the occasion of his expeditions through the Atacama desert , discovered the largest Water lily , the giant Amazon water lily , which others later called Victoria regia out of admiration for the English Queen Victoria , the giant bromeliad Puya raimondii , named after the later “discoverer”, the Italian researcher Antonio Raimondi (1824–1890), as well as the healing effects of thermal baths. He also developed explosives , for example black powder "new" with much improved properties, and the Spanish army benefited from his results.

During the revolutionary turmoil and unrest, Thaddäus X. P. Haenke died on November 14, 1816 at the age of 54 in his adopted home Cochabamba under unexplained circumstances. A poisoning is not excluded. The Spanish state confiscated its property. His remains were buried in an undisclosed location by representatives of the indigenous population in the Atacama Desert. His descendants still live in South America today.

Most of his scientific reports, evaluations, plant and animal drawings and preparations reached the authorities in Madrid, but much was lost. Because of his unexpected, still unexplained death during the independence struggle in Cochabamba, his stay in South America instead of a journey home with subsequent publications and recognition of his works, plus the intrigues surrounding the expedition leader Malaspina, Thaddäus Haenke's works were little known and remained almost unpublished, even himself fell into oblivion. According to the current state of research, his herbariums, preparations and drawings sent to Spain are in many universities and collections all over Europe. Part of his written legacy (letters, reports) was not published until the beginning of the 20th century. Later (1960) a large part of his writings were found in the archive of the “ Royal Botanical Garden ” (span. “Real Jardin Botánico”), Madrid, which were published in 1966 (Dr. Renée Gicklhorn-Czernin) and 1992 (Dr. María Victoria Ibáñez Montoya) were partly published in an annotated version.

Honors

Is named after Haenke the genus Haenkea F.W.Schnidt from the family of Rutaceae (Rutaceae).

Works

  • La Expedición Malaspina (1789–1794) - Trabajos científicos y corespondencia de Tadeo Haenke - Part IV . Lunwerg, Madrid 1992; Co-author (comments): Dr. María Victoria Ibáñez Montoya
  • Reliquiae Haenkeanae, seu descriptiones et icones plantarum, quas in America Meridionali et Boreali, in insulis Philippinis et Marianis collegit . Thaddaeus Haenke, Philosophiae Doctor, Phytographus Regis Hispaniolis / redegit et in ordinem digessit Carolus Bor. Presl, Medicinae Doctor, in Museo Boh. Custos, Botan. Prof. Extraord. / Cura Musei Bohemici. / Apud JG Calve, Prague 1830: Reprint of the Prague edition 1830/31 by Asher, Amsterdam 1973; ISBN 90-6123-237-6

literature

Web links

Commons : Tadeáš Haenke  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Thaddäus Haenke  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Rolf Seeler: Peru and Bolivia - Indian cultures, Inca ruins and baroque colonial splendor of the Andean states . In: DuMont Art Travel Guide , 1st edition, DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 2001. ISBN 3-7701-4786-3 . P. 117.
  2. ^ Georg Petersen, Hartmut Fröschle : The Germans in Peru . In: Hartmut Fröschle (ed.): The Germans in Latin America. Fate and achievement . Erdmann, Tübingen 1979, ISBN 3-7711-0293-6 , pp. 696-741, here p. 700.
  3. ^ Georg Petersen, Hartmut Fröschle: The Germans in Peru . In: Hartmut Fröschle (ed.): The Germans in Latin America. Fate and achievement . Erdmann, Tübingen 1979, ISBN 3-7711-0293-6 , pp. 696-741, here p. 701.
  4. ^ Andreas W. Daum: German Naturalists in the Pacific around 1800. Entanglement, Autonomy, and a Transnational Culture of Expertise . In: Hartmut Berghoff, Frank Biess, Ulrike Strasser (ed.): Explorations and Entanglements. Germans in Pacific Worlds from the Early Modern Period to World War I . Berghahn Books, New York 2019, pp. 84 f .
  5. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
personal data
SURNAME Haenke, Squidward
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Haenke, Thaddäus Xaverius Peregrinus (full name); Haenke, Tadeo; Haenke, Tadeáš
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian (Bohemian) philosopher, geographer, chemist, doctor, botanist and explorer
DATE OF BIRTH December 6, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Kreibitz , Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH November 14, 1816
Place of death Cochabamba , Bolivia