Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) 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 ...

, herpetologist and

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Early life and education

Schlegel was born at

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated Schlegel's interest in natural history. The discovery, by chance, of a buzzard's nest led him to the study of birds, and a meeting with Christian Ludwig Brehm. Schlegel started to work for his father, but soon tired of it. He travelled to Vienna in 1824, where, at the university, he attended the lectures of

Leopold Fitzinger Leopold Joseph Franz Johann Fitzinger (13 April 1802 – 20 September 1884) was an Austrian zoologist. Fitzinger was born in Vienna and studied botany at the University of Vienna under Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. He worked at the Vienna Naturhis ...

and

Johann Jacob Heckel Johann Jakob Heckel (23 January 1790 – 1 March 1857) was an Austrian taxidermist, zoology, zoologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist from Mannheim in the Electoral Palatinate. Life Though not a formally trained biologist, he worked his way up th ...

. A letter of introduction from Brehm to gained him a position at the Naturhistorisches Museum.

Ornithological career

One year after his arrival, the director of this natural history museum, Carl Franz Anton Ritter von Schreibers, recommended him to

Coenraad Jacob Temminck Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch people, Dutch Aristocracy (class), aristocrat, Zoology, zoologist and museum director. Biography Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dut ...

, director of the natural history museum of Leiden, who was seeking an assistant. At first Schlegel worked mainly on the

reptile Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates (lizards and snakes) and rhynchocephalians ( ...

collection and wrote ''Essai sur la Physionomie des Serpens'' (1837), but soon his field of activity extended to other zoological groups. It had been intended that Schlegel be sent to Java to join the Natural History Commission, but the untimely death of Temminck's intended successor, Heinrich Boie, prevented the realization of this project. It was at this time that Schlegel met Philipp Franz von Siebold. They became firm friends and collaborated on ''Fauna Japonica'' (1845-1850). In 1847 he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands, when that became the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1851 he became member. Schlegel considered species as fixed, and consequently from the publication of '' On the Origin of Species'' until his death was strongly opposed to Darwin's theory. The English naturalist Charles Darwin knew of Schlegel's opinions on species and evolution from remarks by his close friend, the British

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 ...

and explorer Joseph Dalton Hooker: ‘I talked much with Schlegel, he is strongly in favour of a multiple creation & against migration’.Hooker, J .D. 1845. Letter to C.R. Darwin, 23 March 1845. Darwin Correspondence Project, Letter no. 844.
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Director of the natural history museum

When Temminck died at the beginning of 1858, Schlegel succeeded him as director of the natural history museum, after having spent 33 years under his direction. Schlegel was particularly interested in Southeast Asia, and in 1857 sent his son

Gustav Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media *Primeval (film), ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film *Gustav (film series), ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hu ...

to collect birds in China. Gustav arrived to find that

Robert Swinhoe Robert Swinhoe FRS (1 September 1836 – 28 October 1877) was an English diplomat and naturalist who worked as a Consul in Formosa. He catalogued many Southeast Asian birds, and several, such as Swinhoe's pheasant, are named after him. Bio ...

had gotten there first. In 1859, Schlegel sent Heinrich Agathon Bernstein to collect birds in New Guinea. After the death of Bernstein in 1865, he was succeeded by Hermann von Rosenberg. Schlegel took on a young assistant, Otto Finsch. At the same time, he started to publish a scientific magazine, ''Notes from the Leyden Museum'', as well as a vast work of 14 volumes, '' Muséum d'histoire naturelle des Pays-Bas'' (1862-1880). He employed three talented illustrators: John Gerrard Keulemans, Joseph Smit and Joseph Wolf. The end of Schlegel's life was difficult: his wife died in 1864, Finsch moved to the natural history museum at

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state consis ...

, and the collections of the British Museum started to eclipse those of Leiden. Schlegel died on 17 January 1884 in Leiden. His sons are the

sinologist Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...

and field naturalist Gustaaf Schlegel (1840-1903) and the

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and pianist Leander Schlegel (1844-1913).

Animal species named for Schlegel

In alphabetical order by common name: * Eyelash viper ''(Bothriechis schlegelii)'', a pit viperBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Schlegel", p. 235). *

False gharial The false gharial (''Tomistoma schlegelii''), also known by the names Malayan gharial, Sunda gharial and tomistoma is a freshwater crocodilian of the family Gavialidae native to Peninsular Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra and Java. It is listed as Vu ...

''(Tomistoma schlegelii)'' , a crocodilian * The Giant sharkminnow ''(Osteochilus schlegelii)'', a fish * Red-headed reed snake ''(

Calamaria schlegeli ''Calamaria schlegeli'' is a species of snake in the family Colubridae. The species is known commonly as the red-headed reed snake, Iskandar D, Grismer L (2012)''Calamaria schlegeli''.The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 18 F ...

)'', a nonvenomous snake * Royal Penguin ''(

Eudyptes schlegeli The royal penguin (''Eudyptes schlegeli'') is a species of penguin, which can be found on the sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island and adjacent islands. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies the royal penguin as near th ...

)'', a crested penguin * Schlegel's adder ''(

Aspidomorphus schlegelii ''Aspidomorphus'' is a genus of venomous elapid snakes endemic to New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding ...

)'', a venomous elapid snake * Schlegel's beaked blind snake ''( Afrotyphlops schlegelii)'', a nonvenomous burrowing snake * Schlegel's forest skink ''(

Sphenomorphus schlegeli ''Sphenomorphus schlegeli'' is a species of skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scinci ...

)'', a lizard * Schlegel's green tree frog ''(

Rhacophorus schlegelii ''Zhangixalus schlegelii'' (common names: Japanese gliding frog, Schlegel's green tree frog, Schlegel's flying frog, Schlegel's tree frog) is a species of frog in the family Rhacophoridae. It is Endemism, endemic to Japan and found in Honshu, Shi ...

)'', a shrub frog

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schlegel, Hermann 19th-century German zoologists 1804 births 1884 deaths German herpetologists German ornithologists German ichthyologists German taxonomists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Altenburg People from Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg