Eugenius Johann Christoph Esper (2 June 1742 – 27 July 1810) was a German

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and naturalist. Born in

Wunsiedel (; Northern Bavarian: ''Wåuṉsieḏl'' or ''Wousigl'') is the seat of the Upper Franconian district of in northeast Bavaria, Germany. The town is the birthplace of poet Jean Paul. It also became known for its annual Festival and the Rudol ...

in Bavaria, he was professor of zoology at

Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...

university.

Life and work

Eugen and his brother Friedrich were introduced to natural history at an early age by their father Friedrich Lorenz Esper, an amateur

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. Encouraged to abandon his

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

course by his professor of botany

Casimir Christoph Schmidel Casimir Christoph Schmidel (born 21 November 1718 in Bayreuth, Germany, died 18 December 1792 in Ansbach, Germany) was a naturalist of the 18th century who researched in botany and mineralogy. Among genera he named are the flowering plant genera ...

(1718–1792) Eugen Esper, instead, took instruction in natural history. He obtained his doctorate of philosophy at the university of Erlangen in 1781 with a thesis entitled ''De varietatibus specierum in naturale productis''. The following year, he started to teach at the university initially as extraordinary professor, a poorly paid position, then in 1797 as the professor of

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

. He directed the department of natural history in Erlangen from 1805. Thanks to him the university collections of

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweigh ...

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...

s, shells and

insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

s grew very rapidly. During his leisure hours Esper devoted himself to the study of nature and the preparation of manuscripts relating to natural history. He was the author of a series of booklets entitled ''Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen'' which were published between 1776 and 1807. These were richly illustrated; minerals, birds, plants, shells and insects being presented on 438 hand-coloured plates. A second work was published in 1829–1830 with

Toussaint de Charpentier Toussaint von Charpentier (22 November 1779 – 4 March 1847) was a German geologist and entomologist. He was the author of ''Libellulinae europaeae descriptae e depictae'' (1840). Biography Toussaint von Charpentier was born in Freiberg, Saxony ...

(1779–1847). This is an important work on the butterflies of Germany, following the

Linnean System Linnaean taxonomy can mean either of two related concepts: # The particular form of biological classification (taxonomy) set up by Carl Linnaeus, as set forth in his '' Systema Naturae'' (1735) and subsequent works. In the taxonomy of Linnaeus ...

. Esper was also the very first person to research

palaeopathology Paleopathology, also spelled palaeopathology, is the study of ancient diseases and injuries in organisms through the examination of fossils, mummified tissue, skeletal remains, and analysis of coprolites. Specific sources in the study of ancien ...

. The review of entomology, ''Esperiana, Buchreihe zur Entomologie'', created in 1990, commemorates his name and work. Esper's collection is in the

Zoologische Staatssammlung München The Bavarian State Collection of Zoology (german: Zoologische Staatssammlung München) or ZSM is a major German research institution for zoological systematics in Munich. It has over 20 million zoological specimens. It is one of the largest natur ...

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References

Selected dates in the lepidopterological history
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www.lepidopterology.com
* Hermann Hacker (1998), Die Typen der von E. J. Ch. Esper (1742–1810) in seinem “Die Schmetterlinge in Abbildungen nach der Natur” beschriebenen Noctuoidea (Lepidoptera). Esperiana, 6. 18th-century German botanists 1742 births 1810 deaths German lepidopterists Paleopathologists People from Erlangen 18th-century German zoologists 19th-century German zoologists {{entomologist-stub