Johannes Christopher Hagemann Reinhardt (23 December 1778 – 31 October 1845), sometimes called J. C. H. Reinhardt, was a professor in
zoology
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 ...
at the
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public research university in Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia after Uppsala Unive ...
.
Born in
Rendalen
Rendalen is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Østerdalen. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bergset. Other villages in the municipality include Hanestad, Otn ...
parish in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
, his father, Johannes Henrik Reinhardt, was a priest, and his mother, Johanne Elisabeth Mommesen, was from
Holmestrand
is a town and municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Holmestrand. The town was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). T ...
(Norway). He was not baptized Johannes, but adopted the name later. After having been educated at home, he came to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
in 1792 and entered the
university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
in 1793, where he passed the first two examinations, but after that spent almost two years at home, where he used the opportunity to study
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 exclu ...
s and
animal
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s. In 1796, he returned to
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
to study
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 ...
, but his tendencies pulled him away from this study and towards
natural history. He became a disciple of
Martin Vahl
Martin Henrichsen Vahl (10 October 1749 – 24 December 1804) was a Danish-Norwegian botanist, herbalist and zoologist.
Biography
Martin Vahl was born in Bergen, Norway and attended Bergen Cathedral School. He studied botany at the University ...
, with whose help Reinhardt in 1801 got the opportunity to travel abroad, where he stayed until 1806 (in the beginning a mentor for a son of the titular councillor of state J.C.C. Brun). At first, Reinhardt studied mineralogy at the academy of mining in
Freiberg
Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district.
Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...
, later primarily
zoology
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 ...
and
anatomy
Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having it ...
in
Göttingen
Göttingen (, , ; nds, Chöttingen) is a university city in Lower Saxony, central Germany, the capital of the eponymous district. The River Leine runs through it. At the end of 2019, the population was 118,911.
General information
The ori ...
and finally in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. During his stay there he received an appointment as an inspector for that part of the newly established
Royal Museum for Natural History which was founded by acquiring the collections of the
Society for Natural History in 1805. He was just about to start as a private tutor in a German family in
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
, but accepted happily the post as inspector instead, although the annual salary was only 200
Rdl., because he now felt it possible to return home without having to choose between "death from hunger or practising law". He remained in Paris for a few months more and tried to extend his rather insufficient knowledge by studying in the museums and by following
Georges Cuvier's lectures, that had excited his enthusiasm. In late 1806 he returned and immediately took over the management of the collection. In 1809 he started giving lectures in the museum, and when professor J. Rathke had been transferred to
Christiania, Reinhardt was also employed by the university in 1813, at first as a senior lecturer and the year after as a professor extraordinarius in
natural history. In 1814, he married Mette Margrethe Nicoline Hammeleff (1782–1832), a daughter of titular councillor of state N. Hammeleff and Juliane Marie Hammeleff, born Pontoppidan. In 1821, he became a member of the
Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
{{Infobox organization
, name = The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters
, full_name =
, native_name = Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab
, native_name_lang =
, logo = Royal ...
, in 1830 ordinary professor and a member of the Academic Council; in 1836 he was appointed honourable Doctor of Philosophy, and in 1839 he became titular councillor of state.
He was the father of
herpetologist
Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians ( gymnophiona)) and rep ...
Johannes Theodor Reinhardt
Johannes Theodor Reinhardt (3 December 1816, in Copenhagen – 23 October 1882, in Frederiksberg) was a Danish zoologist and herpetologist. The son of Johannes Christopher Hagemann Reinhardt.
Biography
He participated as botanist in the firs ...
(1816-1882), who with
Christian Frederik Lütken (1827-1901), published ''Bidrag til Kundskab om Brasiliens Padder og Krybdyr'' (Contributions to the knowledge of Brazilian amphibians and reptiles.
Journal of Herpetology
by: The Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles
Reinhardt died on 31 October 1845 in Copenhagen.
Taxon described by him
*See :Taxa named by Johan Reinhardt
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Johan Christopher Hagemann
1776 births
People from Rendalen
1845 deaths
Danish zoologists
Scientists from Copenhagen