Carl August Dohrn (27 June 1806 – 10 May 1892) was a German entomologist.

Biography

Born at Stettin ( Szczecin, now

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

) Carl August was the son of Heinrich Dohrn, who was a wine and spice merchant, and had made the family fortune by trading in sugar. This wealth allowed Carl August to devote himself to his various hobbies; travelling, folk music and entomology. Although interested in all orders of insects Dohrn specialised in Coleoptera. His first published paper was in the ''Entomologische Zeitung'' for 1845 but he was an active entomologist long before this, since he had acted as Secretary to the Stettin Entomological Society from its foundation in 1839 and edited its journal. He was elected president of the society in 1843 retiring from the post in 1887.During this time he held together the rather fractious German entomologists and the society flourished. Dohrn had many contacts including Alexander Henry Haliday, with whom he wrote a paper on the Linnaean Diptera (See Talk:Carl August Dohrn) and the London entomologists. He was a personal friend of

Henry Tibbats Stainton Henry Tibbats Stainton (13 August 1822 – 2 December 1892) was an English entomologist. He served as an editor for two popular entomology periodicals of his period, ''The Entomologist's Annual'' and ''The Entomologist's Weekly Intelligencer''. ...

with whom he stayed in England. A frequent visitor to London he was accompanied by the Lepidopterist,

Philipp Christoph Zeller Philipp Christoph Zeller (8 April 1808 – 27 March 1883) was a German entomologist. Zeller was born at Steinheim an der Murr, Württemberg, two miles from Marbach, the birthplace of Schiller. The family moved to Frankfurt (Oder) where Philipp ...

in 1852, by Carl Henrik Boheman in 1854 and by

Hermann August Hagen Hermann August Hagen (30 May 1817 – 9 November 1893) was a German entomologist who specialised in Neuroptera The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order ...

in 1857. He spent many summers in Italy, in

Lucca Lucca ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its province has a population of 383,957. Lucca is known as one ...

with Haliday and in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

with

Maximilian Spinola Maximilian Spinola ( it, Massimiliano Spinola; July 10, 1780 – November 12, 1857) was an Italian entomologist. Background Spinola was born in Pézenas, Hérault, France. The family of Spinola was of very long standing and had great wealth a ...

. Dohrn was elected a fellow of the

Entomological Society of London The Royal Entomological Society is devoted to the study of insects. Its aims are to disseminate information about insects and improving communication between entomologists. The society was founded in 1833 as the Entomological Society of Londo ...

in 1855 and an honorary member in 1855. A

classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

he was fluent in many European languages. His Coleoptera collection was very extensive and just prior to his death, at 86, he had received upwards of 1,000 beetles from Sumatra.

Family

Dohrn's son

Anton Dohrn Felix Anton Dohrn FRS FRSE (29 December 1840 – 26 September 1909) was a prominent German Darwinist and the founder and first director of the first zoological research station in the world, the Stazione Zoologica in Naples, Italy. He worked ...

, an ardent supporter of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

, became a famous marine zoologist. Another, older, son Heinrich Wolfgang Ludwig Dohrn was also an entomologist.

References

* J. W. D uglas''Obituary.'' In: ''Entomologist's Monthly Magazine.'' 2. Serie, Band 3 (= Band 25), 1892, S. 164–165
Online

External links

Gaedike, R.; Groll, E. K. & Taeger, A. 2012: Bibliography of the entomological literature from the beginning until 1863 : online database - version 1.0 - Senckenberg Deutsches Entomologisches Institut.
Bibliography (Citations) 1806 births 1892 deaths Scientists from Szczecin German entomologists People from the Province of Pomerania Fellows of the Royal Entomological Society {{entomologist-stub