Wilhelm Michaelsen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The geographical distribution of the oligochaetes (1903)

Johann Wilhelm Michaelsen (born October 9, 1860 in Hamburg ; † February 18, 1937 there ) was a German zoologist who mainly dealt with the little bristles (Oligochaeta).

Life

Michaelsen was born on October 9, 1860 in Hamburg as the son of a family of craftsmen and was originally supposed to be an engineer. Up to the age of fourteen he attended a private school and then a secondary school , which he finished in the spring of 1878 with the final exam. He worked as a mechanical engineer until spring 1879 and completed the preparatory course for the polytechnic in the autumn of the same year . At the beginning of 1880, however, he entered a first-class secondary school, where he graduated from high school in spring 1881. Subsequently, he studied natural sciences, first three semesters in Leipzig and finally six semesters in Kiel , where in 1886 he started a thesis on “Investigations on Enchytraeus Möbii Mich. and other enchytraeids " doctorate .

From November 1887 he worked at the Hamburg Zoological Museum , initially as a scientific assistant, from January 1, 1894 as a permanent assistant and later as chief curator . In 1907 he was made professor. He remained loyal to the museum and was scientifically active until his death in 1937.

Michaelsen was married. His wife Agnes accompanied and supported him on his third major research expedition. The marriage remained childless.

Johann Wilhelm Michaelsen died on February 18, 1937 in Hamburg after an illness lasting several weeks. His death also caused consternation among his specialist colleagues internationally. For example, Charles Carmichael Arthur Monro wrote an obituary for the English-language specialist magazine Nature .

Research activity and expeditions

Michaelsen's main scientific interest was in the little bristles, but he also published works on, for example, the many bristles and tunicates . In the course of his almost 50-year career, he published an average of around four specialist publications per year, in which he described a total of more than 1000 taxa .

The enchytrae genus Buchholzia , named after Reinhold Wilhelm Buchholz , was one of the first taxa that Michaelsen had described in 1886, before he joined the Hamburg Zoological Museum. The best known, however, is probably the Baden giant earthworm ( Lumbricus badensis ), which he first described in 1907 as Lumbricus papillosus var. Badensis . Today Michaelsen is considered to be the founder of the modern system of the little bristle.

Michaelsen's scientific work was significantly shaped by three large expeditions. In 1892/93 he explored the southern tip of South America from Punta Arenas , Ushuaia and Valdivia as part of the “Hamburger Magalhaensische collecting trip” . During the "Hamburg Southwest Australian Research Trip" in 1905 he explored the southwest of Australia together with Robert Hartmeyer and finally also the southwest of Africa in 1911/12 during the "Hamburg German-Southwest African study trip 1911". In his opinion, the kinship and distribution areas, especially of the terrestrial little bristles in these regions, can be explained easiest if one assumes that Alfred Wegener's continental drift theory is correct and Wegener promptly integrated Michaelsen's considerations into the second edition of his book about "The Formation of the Continents and Oceans".

Fonts (selection)

  • About chyllus vascular systems in enchytraeids . In: Archive for Microscopic Anatomy , Volume 28, Number 3, 1886, pp. 292–304, Taf. XXI Archive.org
  • To the knowledge of the oligochaetes . In: Treatises and negotiations of the Natural Science Association Hamburg , Volume 13, 1894, pp. 1–37 Archive.org
  • Oligochaeta . R. Friedländer & Sohn, Berlin 1900 Archive.org
  • The geographical distribution of the oligochaetes . R. Friedländer & Sohn, Berlin 1903 Archive.org

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A. Panning: Professor Dr. Wilhelm Michaelsen † February 18, 1937 - Obituary held at the meeting on May 26, 1937. In: Treatises and negotiations of the Natural Science Association in Hamburg , Volume 1, 1937, pp. 51–56.
  2. ↑ W. Michaelsen: Investigations on Enchytraeus Möbii Mich. and other enchytraeids. Inaugural dissertation to obtain the doctorate of the philosophical faculty in Kiel, 1886, 51 p., ( Digitized of the attached curriculum vitae until 1886 ).
  3. ^ A. Pagenstecher: Report of the director Professor Dr. Pagenstecher for the year 1887. In: Messages from the Natural History Museum in Hamburg , Volume 5–6, 1888, pp. III – XI, ( digitized version ).
  4. ↑ K. Kraepelin: Natural History Museum: Report of the director Professor Dr. Kraepelin. In: Yearbook of the Hamburg Scientific Institutions , year 12, 1894, pp. LXV – LXXV, ( digitized version ).
  5. ↑ a b c CCA Monro: Prof. JW Michaelsen. In: nature , Volume 104, 1937, pp. 308-309, ( digitized version ).
  6. ↑ K. Kraepelin: Natural History Museum: Report for the year 1907. In: Messages from the Natural History Museum in Hamburg , Volume 25, 1908, pp. I – X, ( digitized ).
  7. ↑ a b c d e B. Klatt: Wilhelm Michaelsen †. In: Communications from the Hamburg Zoological Museum and Institute , Volume 47, 1938, pp. I – XIV, ( digitized version ).
  8. ^ E. Sherlock & L. Berridge: History of the earthworm collections at the Natural History Museum, London. In: Zoology in the Middle East , Volume 58, Supplementum 4, 2012, pp. 177-187, ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ a b C. Csuzdi: Annotated catalog of the Benhamiinae species in the collection of the Zoological Institute and Museum of Hamburg (Oligochaeta: Acanthodrilidae). In: Opuscula Zoologica , Volume 35, 2006, pp. 19-33, ( digitized version ).
  10. ↑ W. Michaelsen: About chyle vascular systems in Enchytraeiden. In: Archive for microscopic anatomy , Volume 28, 1886, pp. 292–304, ( digitized version ).
  11. ↑ W. Michaelsen: On the knowledge of the German Lumbricidenfauna. In: Communications from the Natural History Museum in Hamburg , Volume 24, 1907, pp. 189–193, ( digitized version ).
  12. ^ W. Michaelsen: travel report. In: Naturhistorisches Museum zu Hamburg (Hrsg.): Results of the Hamburg Magalhaensische collecting trip 1892/93 , Volume I: General, Chordonier, Echinodermen und Coelenteraten, 1896, S. 1-47, ( digitized ).
  13. ^ W. Michaelsen & R. Hartmeyer: travel report. In: W. Michaelsen & R. Hartmeyer (eds.): The fauna of Southwest Australia: Results of the Hamburg Southwest Australian research trip 1905 , Volume 1, Gustav Fischer, Jena, 1907, 116 pages, ( digitized ).
  14. ^ W. Michaelsen: travel report. In: W. Michaelsen (Ed.): Contributions to the knowledge of the land and freshwater fauna of German South West Africa: Results of the Hamburg German South West African Study Tour 1911 , Volume 1, Friederichsen & Co., Hamburg, 1914, pp. 5–53, ( Digitized ).
  15. ↑ W. Michaelsen: The spread of the oligochetes in the light of Wegener's theory of the continent shift and other questions about the tribal history and spread of this group of animals. In: Negotiations of the Natural Science Association in Hamburg , Volume 29, 1922, pp. 45–79, ( digitized version ).
personal data
SURNAME Michaelsen, Wilhelm
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German zoologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1860
PLACE OF BIRTH Hamburg
DATE OF DEATH February 18, 1937
Place of death Hamburg