Elsa Beata Bunge,
née Wrede (18 April 1734 – 19 January 1819), was a Swedish
botanist, writer and
noble
A noble is a member of the nobility.
Noble may also refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Noble Glacier, King George Island
* Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land
* Noble Peak, Wiencke Island
* Noble Rocks, Graham Land
Australia
* Noble Island, Gr ...
.
Biography
Elsa Beata was born 18 April 1734. She was the daughter of statesman and noble, baron Fabian Wrede, and Katarina Charlotta Sparre. In 1761, she married the statesman Count Sven Bunge. She was an enthusiastic amateur botanist and had large
greenhouses set up at her manor Beateberga; the name of the estate means "The Mountain of Beata". Bunge was connected to the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and corresponded with
Carl von Linné
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...
. Her spouse was a member of the academy, and from 1780 forward, she corresponded with the academy, discussed scientific botanical experiments and reported results.
She became well known as a botanist and wrote the botanical work ''Om vinrankors beskaffenhet efter sjelfva naturens anvisningar'' (English: "About the nature of vine grapes by direction from nature itself") with tables (1806), the work for which she was recognised as a botanist.
As a person, Countess Bunge aroused attention because of her way of dressing as a man, with the exception of a skirt. A lot of stories and anectodets are told about her. During the reign of
Gustav III
Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.
Gustav was a vocal opponent of what ...
(1771–1792), the monarch noticed a peculiarly dressed woman in the
Royal Swedish Opera and enquired who she was. Bunge replied "Tell His Majesty that I am the daughter of statesman Fabian Wrede and married to statesman Sven Bunge."
Bunge participated in the custom in the mid 18th-century of criticizing people by anonymous poems: she is believed to have been the author of the satirical libel work ''Kom kära Armod lät oss vandra'' (Come, dear Poverty, let us go) toward the notoriously stingy chamberlain Conrad Lohe.
Died
Bunge died on Beateberga manor in Röö Parish in 1819.
Work
* ''Om vinrankors beskaffenhet efter sjelfva naturens anvisningar'' (1806)
See also
*
Eva Ekeblad
Eva Ekeblad (née De la Gardie; 10 July 1724 – 15 May 1786) was a Swedish countess, salon hostess, agronomist, and scientist. She was widely known for discovering a method in 1746 to make alcohol and flour from potatoes, allowing greater us ...
*
Maria Christina Bruhn
Maria Christina Bruhn (1732 – 21 October 1808) was a Swedish chemist and inventor, likely to be the first patented female inventor of her country.. She created a gunpowder packaging that would later be used in the Swedish army for many genera ...
References
Sources
* Sten Lindroth (Swedish): Kungl. Svenska vetenskapsakademiens historia 1739-1818: Tiden intill Wargentins död 1783
* Svenska Linné-sällskapet, Volym 2006 (Swedish)
Samlaren / Femtonde årgången. 1894 / h1>
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bunge, Elsa Beata
1734 births
1819 deaths
18th-century Swedish botanists
18th-century Swedish women scientists
19th-century Swedish botanists
19th-century Swedish women scientists
Age of Liberty people
Swedish countesses
Swedish agronomists
Women agronomists
Swedish women botanists