Heinrich Gätke (born 19 May or 19 March 1814 in
Pritzwalk – died 1 January 1897 in Heligoland) was a German
ornithologist
Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...
and artist.
Biography
The son of a baker, he was sent to study commerce in Berlin but became a painter. In 1837 he travelled to the island of
Heligoland
Heligoland (; german: Helgoland, ; Heligolandic Frisian: , , Mooring Frisian: , da, Helgoland) is a small archipelago in the North Sea. A part of the German state of Schleswig-Holstein since 1890, the islands were historically possessions ...
for the first time. From 1841 he decided to live there and from 1843 he studied birds on the island. He studied ornithology and made a collection. In 1891 a station was established in Heligoland and the
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n government acquired his collection for the North sea museum. The collection was destroyed in 1944 by a bombing.
Writings
''Die Vogelwarte Helgoland'' hrsg. von Rudolf Blasius, 1891 (''Vogel'' = bird; ''Warte'' = observation point or station)
''Heligoland as an Ornithological Observatory''trans. by Rudolph Rosenstock, 1891
See also
*
Heligoland Bird Observatory
The Heligoland Bird Observatory (''Vogelwarte Helgoland'' in German), one of the world's first ornithological observatories, is operated by the Ornithologische Arbeitsgemeinschaft Helgoland e.V., a non-profit organization which was founded in 18 ...
References
External links
Heligoland as an Ornithological observatory
1814 births
1897 deaths
People from Pritzwalk
German ornithologists
Heligoland
{{ornithologist-stub