Johan Zoëga (7 October 1742 - 29 December 1788) was a
Danish entomologist
Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (''éntomon''), meaning "insect", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study") is the branch of zoology that focuses on insects. Those who study entomology are known as entomologists. In ...
and
botanist
Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
.
[Johan Zoëga ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon '' Retrieved December 1, 2020]
Biography
Johan Zoëga was born at Ravsted in
Schleswig
The Duchy of Schleswig (; ; ; ; ; ) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km (45 mi) south of the current border between Germany and Denmark. The territory has been di ...
. His father Poul Christian Zoëga was a parish priest. His cousin was the
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...
Jörgen Zoega. He studied botany at the
University of Uppsala where he was a pupil of
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...
. He contributed to a work by Linnaeus who named the plant genus Zoegea after him. For some years he helped
Georg Christian Oeder as his assistant at the
University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden
The University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden (), usually referred to simply as Copenhagen Botanical Garden, is a botanical garden located in the centre of Copenhagen, Denmark. It covers an area of 10 hectares and is particularly noted for its ext ...
. When the position was revoked in 1770, he applied to the central administration and in 1771 became secretary of the Department of the College of Finance. In 1773 he was a clerk in the Funen office, in 1779 a commissioner in the Chamber of Finance (''Rentekammeret'') and in 1784 a deputy in the College of Finance (''Finanskollegiet'').
As a botanist, Zoëga wrote ''Flora Islandica'' (Soroe, 1772, Kopenhagen et Leipzig 1775)
References
External links
Georg Brandes' Holberg-bog: Biografier fra Holberg til Rahbek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zoega, Johan
Danish entomologists
18th-century Danish botanists
1742 births
1788 deaths
People from the Duchy of Schleswig
Scientists from Denmark–Norway