Wilhelm Schilling (zoologist)

Wilhelm Schilling (born July 26, 1790 in Schwarzbach , † February 9, 1874 in Jena ) was a German zoologist . From 1820 to 1853 he worked as a curator at the Zoological Museum Greifswald .

Life

Schilling had no academic training, and he broke off studying at the University of Leipzig in his first semester. He was promoted in his Thuringian homeland by the famous pastor Christian Ludwig Brehm . In 1818 he was accepted into the Natural Research Society of the Osterland .

From 1818 Schilling came on study trips to Pomerania . Here the Greifswald professor Christian Friedrich Hornschuch noticed him and made him curator at the Zoological Museum Greifswald in 1820 . Schilling rendered outstanding services to the further expansion of the zoological collection. Among other things, he created the “Collection of Pomeranian Birds”, but also dealt with the recovery and dismantling of a fin whale that was stranded in 1825 . In 1830 he was made an honorary doctorate .

In 1853 Schilling retired, which he spent first in Naumburg (Saale) and then in Jena until his death .

Schilling married Friederike von der Oehe's first marriage in 1822 (* 1801; † 1875), daughter of the owner of the island of Öhe near Rügen . Several children emerged from the marriage, including the writer Laurette Schilling (* 1837, † 1903). After the divorce, Schilling married Marie Plathen for the second time.

Fonts

• with Christian Friedrich Hornschuch : Directory of the birds occurring in Pomerania . Greifswald 1837.
• with Christian Friedrich Hornschuch : Brief notes on the species of the genus Halichoerus NILSS that occur in the Baltic Sea. Greifswald 1850. ( Online )
• Handbook and textbook for aspiring naturalists and natural history collectors . 3 volumes. Weimar 1859–1861.

literature

• Lothar fights : Schilling, Wilhelm (1790–1874) . In: Dirk Alvermann , Nils Jörn (Hrsg.): Biographisches Lexikon für Pommern. Vol. 2 (= Publications of the Historical Commission for Pomerania. Series V: Research on Pomeranian History. Vol. 48,2). Böhlau, Cologne et al. 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-22541-4 , pp. 243–246.