John James Wild (born Jean Jacques Wild; 1824 – 3 June 1900) was a Swiss linguist, oceanographer and a natural history illustrator and lithographer, whose images were noted for their precision and clarity. He participated in the

Challenger expedition The ''Challenger'' expedition of 1872–1876 was a scientific program that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the naval vessel that undertook the trip, . The expedition, initiated by Wil ...

of 1872–76. In 1881 he emigrated to Australia, where he contributed to

Frederick McCoy Sir Frederick McCoy (1817 – 13 May 1899), was an Irish palaeontologist, zoologist, and museum administrator, active in Australia. He is noted for founding the Botanic Garden of the University of Melbourne in 1856. Early life McCoy was the so ...

's ''Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria''.

Detailed biography

Wild was born in Zurich, Switzerland, in 1824. Wild met his wife, Elizabeth Ellen Mullin, while teaching languages in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, Ireland. Wild joined the 1872–1876 ''Challenger'' expedition as official artist and secretary. This expedition, carried out by the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, spent four years surveying the oceans. Equipped with a dark room aboard HMS ''Challenger'', photographers were able to develop and print images soon after they were taken. This expedition is thought to have been the first to make use of photography as well as the services of an artist. Wild's contribution to the expedition's reports was ''Thalassa, An Essay on the Depth, Temperature and Currents of the Ocean'', and for which he received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...

. He also wrote and illustrated a book on the expedition, ''At Anchor, a Narrative of Experiences Afloat and Ashore During the Voyage of H.M.S. "Challenger" from 1872 to 1876''. 'Wild Islet' in the

D'Entrecasteaux Islands D'Entrecasteaux Islands () are situated near the eastern tip of New Guinea in the Solomon Sea in Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea. The group spans a distance of , has a total land area of approximately and is separated from the Papua New G ...

is named after John James Wild. John James Wild02

Wild emigrated to

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia, in 1881. Having been turned down repeatedly by New Zealand in his quest for work, he managed to eke out a living in Melbourne by giving lectures in modern languages and literature at

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, supplemented by acting as matriculation examiner in French and German, and moonlighting as secretary and artist. As he had with Frederick Schoenfeld and Arthur Bartholomew,

quickly appreciated Wild's potential to contribute to his ''Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria'', and Wild's most important Australian legacy was this work he carried out for McCoy. His skill in producing accurate images was also noticed by

Walter Baldwin Spencer Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer (23 June 1860 – 14 July 1929), commonly referred to as Baldwin Spencer, was a British-Australian evolutionary biologist, anthropologist and ethnologist. He is known for his fieldwork with Aboriginal peoples in ...

, Professor of Biology at Melbourne University, who became Director of the National Museum, and who commissioned Wild to illustrate the

Giant Gippsland Earthworm The giant Gippsland earthworm, ''Megascolides australis'', is one of Australia's 1,000 native earthworm species. Description These giant earthworms average long and in diameter and can reach in length; however, their body is able to expand a ...

for the Philosophical Society in 1888. In the same year Wild delivered the inaugural lecture on Anthropology at the

Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science The Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science (ANZAAS) is an organisation that was founded in 1888 as the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science to promote science. It was modelled on the British As ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. He died in

Prahran, Victoria Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a po ...

in 1900.

Wild Knoll Wild Knoll ( bg, могила Уайлд, mogila Uajld, ) is the peak rising to 1773 m Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

is named after John James Wild.

External links

''Thalassa, An Essay on the Depth, Temperature and Currents of the Ocean''

''Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wild, John James 1824 births 1900 deaths Natural history illustrators Artists from Zürich Swiss emigrants to Australia 19th-century Swiss painters Swiss male painters 19th-century Swiss male artists Scientists from Zürich