János Salamon Petényi, Johann Salomon von Petényi or Ján Šalamún Petian (30 July 1799 – 5 October 1855) was a Hungarian priest who took an interest in zoology, travelling, collecting specimens, and contributing to ornithology, speleology, and paleontology. He is considered the father of Hungarian ornithology.

Life and work

Petényi was born in Ábelfalva, Nógrád megye where his father was Lutheran pastor Gábor Petényi who was known for his work in orientalism. Schooled in Losonc and Selmec he took an interest in collecting objects of natural history. He also influenced Agoston Kubinyi. He followed the family tradition to become a pastor, studying in Bratislava and Vienna while also attending the botanical lectures of

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, meeting Johann Jakob Heckel and Johann Natterer from whom he learned taxidermy and specimen preparation. He corresponded with

Christian Ludwig Brehm Christian Ludwig Brehm (24 January 1787 – 23 June 1864) was a German pastor and ornithologist. He was the father of the zoologist Alfred Brehm. Life Brehm was born in Schönau near Gotha on 24 January 1787. He was educated at University ...

and Johann Friedrich Naumann and in 1826 became a pastor in Czinkota. In 1833 he moved to

Pest Pest or The Pest may refer to: Science and medicine * Pest (organism), an animal or plant deemed to be detrimental to humans or human concerns ** Weed, a plant considered undesirable * Infectious disease, an illness resulting from an infection ** ...

and in 1834 he became curator of the zoological collections at the Hungarian National Museum. Around 1840 Gustav Hartlaub visited Petényi and for unknown reasons Hartlaub developed a dislike for Petényi. In 1847 he examined fossilized remains in the

karst Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

Beremend Beremend (german: Behrend; sr, Бреме, Breme) is a village in Baranya County, Hungary on the Croatian border. Residents are Magyars, with minority of Serbs. Until the end of World War II, the Inhabitants was Danube Swabians, also called loc ...

. He also examined caves in the Bihor Mountains. He was elected to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1846. Accidental absorption and toxicity from arsenic soap used as a preservative in his taxidermy work led to his early death. His main work on birds was completed and translated to German from his manuscripts by Titus Csörgey with a biographical preface by Otto Herman.

Eponymy

Many species of fossil and extant animals have been named after him including: *'' Prodeinotherium petenyii'', *The Romanian barbel fish '' Barbus petenyi'', *'' Villanyia petenyii'', and *The extinct Vole, '' Mimomys petenyii''.

References

External links

* ''Ornithologische Fragmente Aus Den Handschriften Von Johann Salamon Von Petenyi'' (1905) {{DEFAULTSORT:Petényi, János Salamon 1799 births 1855 deaths 19th-century Hungarian zoologists Deaths by arsenic poisoning