Heinrich Agathon Bernstein (22 September 1828 – 19 April 1865) was a German naturalist,

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 kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

and

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

from Breslau (Wrocław).

Biography

Early years

Heinrich Agathon Bernstein was born on 22 September 1828 in Breslau (modern-day Wrocław,

Lower Silesia Lower Silesia ( pl, Dolny Śląsk; cz, Dolní Slezsko; german: Niederschlesien; szl, Dolny Ślōnsk; hsb, Delnja Šleska; dsb, Dolna Šlazyńska; Silesian German: ''Niederschläsing''; la, Silesia Inferior) is the northwestern part of the ...

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 ...

), and died on 19 April 1865 at

Batanta Batanta is one of the four major islands in the Raja Ampat Islands in Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. Its area is 453 km² and its highest point is 1184 m. The Pitt Strait separates it from Salawati, while the Dampier Strait separat ...

(

Raja Ampat Islands Raja Ampat, or the ''Four Kings'', is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, in Indonesia's Southwest Papua , Southwest Papua province. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and sh ...

, West Papua,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

). His father, Professor

Georg Heinrich Bernstein Georg Heinrich Bernstein (January 12, 1787 – April 5, 1860) was a German orientalist. Biography He was born at Cospeda, near Jena. He studied at the universities of Jena, Leipzig, and Göttingen, and in 1812 became an associate professor of ...

, taught

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 ...

and

oriental languages A wide variety of languages are spoken throughout Asia, comprising different language families and some unrelated isolates. The major language families include Austroasiatic, Austronesian, Caucasian, Dravidian, Indo-European, Afroasiatic, Tur ...

at Breslau University. By 1840 Heinrich had started at the Gymnasium in Wrocław (Maria-Magdalena), but after two years he departed with his parents and a teacher for a year-long in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. When returned to Wrocław he studied for three and a half years at the Saksian state school at

Pforta Pforta, or Schulpforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercian monastery (1137–1540), near Naumburg on the Saale River in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school since the 16th century. Notable p ...

, and proceeded to St. Elisabeth’s Gymnasium in Breslau and finish his education in 1849. In October 1849 he began studying medicine at the University at Wrocław, and became a

doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

there on 16 November 1853 with his thesis ''De anatomia corvorum pars prima osteologia''. Johann Ludwig Christian Carl Gravenhorst, whom he met at the university, was largely responsible for drawing out Bernstein’s interest in natural history. From 1852 Bernstein travelled extensively, visiting Poland,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Then in early 1854 he departed to

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and never returned to Germany again.

Time in the Netherlands and departure to Indonesia

Arriving in the Netherlands, Bernstein visited the large natural history collections at

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wi ...

. Here he met Coenraad Jacob Temminck (director of the museum at Leiden), and soon enough he was ready to fulfil his dream to go to the tropics. To get to Indonesia he volunteered for the Dutch Army as medical specialist, and gained his passage as the ship’s doctor, departing on 18 June 1854. But his contract bound him to return soon afterwards. Once back in Leiden he took the exam for physician (16 April 1855), and in doing so gained some exclusive rights to work in the overseas possessions of the Netherlands.

Time in Indonesia before his expeditions

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Een ziekenhuis in Gadok TMnr 3728-460

On 10 September 1855 Bernstein arrived again in

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mos ...

. Here he immediately became the first physician of the Health Establishment at Gadok near

Buitenzorg Bogor ( su, , nl, Buitenzorg) is a city in the West Java province, Indonesia. Located around south of the national capital of Jakarta, Bogor is the 6th largest city in the Jakarta metropolitan area and the 14th overall nationwide.Bogor), and remained in post until 31 October 1860. Directly after arriving in Indonesia, Bernstein began collecting (either alone or with local guides) and on 8 October 1856 the first consignment of skins arrived at Leiden (some 300 birds). Bernstein also started publishing articles in

Journal für Ornithologie The ''Journal of Ornithology'' (formerly ''Journal für Ornithologie'') is a scientific journal published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft. It was founded by Jean Cabanis in 1853, becoming the o ...

. His articles there between 1859–1861 on the nests and eggs of Javanese birds so impressed

Hermann Schlegel Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist. Early life and education Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulate ...

, director of the museum at Leiden, that he invited Bernstein to work for the museum to collect zoological items. Bernstein was duly appointed in March 1859 as official collector for the Dutch government, and in this new role he began to collect a wide range of both flora (now in the herbaria of Wrocław) and fauna. In November 1860 he got permission from the Governor-Generals Charles Ferdinand Pahud and his successor Ludolph Anne Jan Wilt Sloet van de Beele; they granted him to travel to New Guinea., 1868. Zur Erinnerung an Dr. H. A- Bernstein.Journal für Ornithologie 80:130-143. He was the first researcher in this region after the departure from

Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn Friedrich Franz Wilhelm Junghuhn was a German botanist and geologist. His father, Friedrich Junghuhn was a barber and a surgeon. His mother was Christine Marie Schiele. Junghuhn studied medicine in Halle and in Berlin from 1827 to 1831, meanwhil ...

and the death of Carl Anton Ludwig Maria Schwaner in 1851. On 7 November Bernstein departed for the

Moluccas The Maluku Islands (; Indonesian: ''Kepulauan Maluku'') or the Moluccas () are an archipelago in the east of Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located ...

, arriving a month later at

Ternate Ternate is a city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the ''de facto'' provincial capital of North Maluku before Sofifi on the nearby coast of Halmahera became the capital in 2010. It is off the ...

(

Halmahera Halmahera, formerly known as Jilolo, Gilolo, or Jailolo, is the largest island in the Maluku Islands. It is part of the North Maluku province of Indonesia, and Sofifi, the capital of the province, is located on the west coast of the island. Ha ...

), where he collected birds for eight days and set up “home”.

Bernstein’s various expeditions in Indonesia

Analysing the specimens present within the museum at Leiden, Bernstein made no less than nine separate trips from Ternate. Ternate was used as a base for rebuilding boats, writing letters (mostly to Hermann Schlegel) and sending specimens to Leiden. Schlegel was always urging Bernstein to keep ahead of Alfred Russel Wallace, who was also collecting at that time in the area. The rivalry was strong but gentlemanly. On 6 February 1861 Wallace wrote in a letter from Dili (

Timor Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, in the north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also ...

): ''The Dutch have just sent out a collector for the Leyden Museum to the Moluccas. He is now at Ternate, and goes to spend two years in Gilolo and Batchian, and then to N. Guinea. He will, of course (having four hunters constantly employed, and not being obliged to make his collecting pay expenses), do much more than I have been able to do; but I think I have got the cream of it all. His name is Bernstein; he has resided long in Java, as doctor at a Sanatorium, and tells me he has already sent large collections to Leyden, including the nests and eggs of more than a hundred species of birds! Are these yet arranged and exhibited? They must form a most interesting collection.'' He indicates in this letter that he had met Bernstein, and in a later one he confirmed this. At various times Bernstein is mentioned in Wallace’s Malay Archipelago (for example in the chapter on Gilolo—now Halmahera—in Volume II and in chapter 38 about the birds of paradise). Trip 1: 22 December 1860–end March 1861 Trip 2: 25 June 1861 – 10 October 1861 Trip 3: October 1861–February 1862 Trip 4: 1–26 April 1862 Trip 5: mid-July–26 September 1862 Trip 6: 7 November 1862 – 18 July 1863 Trip 7: September–November 1863 Trip 8: January 1864–end April 1864 Trip 9: 18 October 1864 – 19 April 1865 Bernstein died on Batanta at 19 April 1865 of a liver abscess, and was buried on Ternate.

Birds named for Heinrich Bernstein

* Chinese crested tern ''Sterna bernsteini'' (Schlegel 1863) * Scarlet-breasted fruit-dove ''Ptilinopus bernsteinii bernsteinii'' (Schlegel 1863) * Black-billed coucal ''Centropus bernsteini bernsteini'' (Schlegel 1866) * Sula scrubfowl ''Megapodius bernsteinii'' (Schlegel 1866) * Red-bellied pitta ''Pitta erythrogaster bernsteini'' (Junge 1958) * Bernstein's red lory ''Eos bornea bernsteini'' (Rosenberg 1863) * Bernstein's black lory ''Chalcopsitta atra bernsteini'' (Rosenberg 1861) Bernstein is also commemorated in the lowland ringtail possum ''Pseudochirulus canescens bernsteini'' and with an insect, the red lacewing ''Cethosia cydippe bernsteini''.

Birds named by Bernstein

* Long-billed honeyeater ''Melilestes megarhynchus vagans'' (Bernstein 1864) * Paradise crow ''Lycocorax pyrrhopterus obiensis'' (Bernstein 1864) *

Brown-headed crow The brown-headed crow (''Corvus fuscicapillus'') is a passerine bird of the genus ''Corvus'' in the family Corvidae. Endemic to Indonesia, it has a fragmented distribution in subtropical or tropical moist lowland forest and subtropical or tropica ...

''Corvus fuscicapillus megarhynchus'' (Bernstein 1864)

References

* Jansen, J. (2008)" "Pioneer of Asian Onithology Heinrich Bernstein". ''Birding Asia''. 103–107.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernstein, Heinrich Agathon 1828 births 1865 deaths 19th-century German zoologists German entomologists Scientists from Wrocław People from the Province of Silesia