Baron Johann Wilhelm von Müller (4 March 1824 – 24 October 1866) 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 explorer.

Early life

Müller was born in Kochersteinsfeld,

Neckarsulm Neckarsulm () is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany, near Heilbronn, and part of the district of Heilbronn. , Neckarsulm had 26,800 inhabitants. The name Neckarsulm derives from the city's location where the Neckar and Sulm rivers ...

, the grandson of the banker Johannes Müller. In 1845 he travelled to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

and

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

, and in 1847 embarked on a longer African journey, accompanied by

Alfred Brehm Alfred Edmund Brehm (; 2 February 1829 – 11 November 1884) was a German zoologist, writer, director of zoological gardens and the son of Christian Ludwig Brehm, a famous pastor and ornithologist. Through the book title ''Brehms Tierlebe ...

as his secretary. They travelled through

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

and

Kordofan Kordofan ( ar, كردفان ') is a former province of central Sudan. In 1994 it was divided into three new federal states: North Kordofan, South Kordofan and West Kordofan. In August 2005, West Kordofan State was abolished and its territory di ...

, returning to

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

in February 1849. Müller left Brehm there and returned to Germany with the natural history specimens collected on his journey, and made plans for a third expedition. Unfortunately Müller ran into financial difficulties and was not able to rejoin Brehm, instead sending him funds to proceed to Khartoum with Alfred's brother Oskar and a doctor called Richard Vierthaler.

Publications

In the autumn of 1849 Müller began publication of the ornithological journal ''Naumannia'', edited by Eduard Baldamus. He also began work on an illustrated book entitled ''Beiträge zur Ornithologie Afrikas'' (1853-1870), of which only five parts were ever published. In 1852 he purchased the natural history collection of

Christian Ludwig Landbeck Christian Ludwig (Luis) Landbeck (11 December 1807 – 3 September 1890) was a prominent German ornithologist. He took part in an expedition to Chile and described many species of birds in collaboration with Rodolfo Amando Philippi. He directed t ...

before the latter's emigration to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. Later in that same year he became director of the Brussels Zoological Garden, resigning in 1854. He then travelled to North America, and on his return wrote ''Reisen in den Vereinigten Staaten, Canada, und Mexiko'' (1864-1865). Müller is commemorated in the scientific name of the

blue-headed bee-eater The blue-headed bee-eater (''Merops muelleri'') is a species of bird in the family Meropidae. It is found in forest habitats in tropical West and Central Africa, including in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo, Democratic ...

, ''Merops muelleri''. The Müllerberget mountain in

Edgeøya Edgeøya (), occasionally anglicised as Edge Island, is a Norwegian island located in southeast of the Svalbard archipelago; with an area of , it is the third-largest island in this archipelago. An Arctic island, it forms part of the Søraust-Sva ...

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

, is named after him.

References

Bibliography

*Stresemann, Erwin - ''Ornithology from Aristotle to the Present'' (1975)

Footnotes

German ornithologists German taxonomists 1824 births 1866 deaths German science writers 19th-century German zoologists {{ornithologist-stub