Max Carl Wilhelm Weber van Bosse or Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (5 December 1852, in
Bonn
The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...
– 7 February 1937, in
Eerbeek
Eerbeek is a town in the municipality of Brummen in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. Eerbeek was first mentioned in 1046 as ''Erbeke''. In the 18th century, Eerbeek became a centre of paper production. Due to its proximity to the V ...
) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
-
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
zoologist
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, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...
and
biogeographer
Biogeography is the study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time. Organisms and biological communities often vary in a regular fashion along geographic gradients of latitude, elevation, i ...
.
Weber studied at the
University of Bonn
The Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (german: Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn) is a public research university located in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the ( en, Rhine U ...
, then at the
Humboldt University
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiati ...
in Berlin with the zoologist
Eduard Carl von Martens (1831–1904). He obtained his doctorate in 1877. Weber taught at the
University of Utrecht
Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...
then participated in an expedition to the
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...
. He became Professor of Zoology, Anatomy and Physiology at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
in 1883. In the same year he received naturalised
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
citizenship.
His discoveries as leader of the
Siboga Expedition led him to propose Weber's line, which encloses the region in which the
mammalian
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class (biology), class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in Female#Mammalian female, females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a ...
fauna
Fauna is all of the animal life present in a particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is ''flora'', and for fungi, it is '' funga''. Flora, fauna, funga and other forms of life are collectively referred to as '' biota''. Zoo ...
is exclusively
Australasia
Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...
n, as an alternative to
Wallace's Line
The Wallace Line or Wallace's Line is a faunal boundary line drawn in 1859 by the British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace and named by English biologist Thomas Henry Huxley that separates the biogeographical realms of Asia and Wallacea, a tr ...
. As is the case with plant species, faunal surveys revealed that for most vertebrate groups Wallace’s line was not the most significant biogeographic boundary. The
Tanimbar
The Tanimbar Islands, also called ''Timur Laut'', are a group of about 65 islands in the Maluku province of Indonesia. The largest and most central of the islands is Yamdena; others include Selaru to the southwest of Yamdena, Larat and F ...
Island group, and not the boundary between Bali and Lombok, appears to be the major interface between the Oriental and Australasian regions for mammals and other terrestrial vertebrate groups.
With
G.A.F. Molengraaff, Weber gave names to the
Sahul Shelf
Geologically, the Sahul Shelf () is a part of the continental shelf of the Australian continent, lying off the northwest coast of mainland Australia.
Etymology
The name "Sahull" or "Sahoel" appeared on 17th century Dutch maps applied to a ...
and the
Sunda Shelf
Geologically, the Sunda Shelf is a south-eastern extension of the continental shelf of Mainland Southeast Asia. Major landmasses on the shelf include the Bali, Borneo, Java, Madura, and Sumatra, as well as their surrounding smaller islands. ...
in 1919.
Weber became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
in 1887.
Weber is commemorated in the scientific names of three species of reptiles: ''
Anomochilus weberi
''Anomochilus weberi'', commonly known as Weber's pipe snake or the Sumatran giant blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Anomochilidae. The species is endemic to Southeast Asia and Oceania.
Etymology
The specific name, ''weberi'', i ...
'', ''
Hydrosaurus weberi
Weber's sailfin lizard or Halmahera sailfin dragon (''Hydrosaurus weberi''), is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to Indonesia.
Geographic range
''H. weberi'' is only found on Halmahera and Ternate Islands of ...
'', and ''
Pachydactylus weberi''. Two species of mammal are also named after him: ''
Prosciurillus weberi'' and ''
Myotis weberi''.
Publications
* Weber, M.
. C.(ed.), 1890-1907. ''Zoologische Ergebnisse einer Reise in Niederländisch Ost-Indien'', 1 (1890-1891):
-v i-xi, maps I-III, 1-460, pls. I-XXV; 2 (1892):
-v 1-571, pls. I-XXX; 3 (1894):
-v 1-476, pls. I-XXII; 4 (1897-1907):
-v 1-453, pls. I-XVI (E. J. Brill, Leiden) .
* Weber, M.
. C. 1902. ''Introduction et description de l'expedition", I. Siboga-expeditie .
* Weber, M.
. C. 1904b. ''Enkele resultaten der Siboga-expeditie''. Versl. gewone Vergad. wis- en natuurk. Afd. K. Akad. Wet. Amsterdam, 12 (2): 910-914.
* Weber, M.
. C.& L. F. de Beaufort, 1911-1962. ''The fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago'', I (1911). Index of the ichthyological papers of P. Bleeker: i-xi, 1-410, 1 portrait; II. (1913). Malacopterygii, Myctophoidea, Ostariophysi: I Siluroidea: i-xx, 1-404, 1 portrait; III. (1916) Ostariophysi: II Cyprinoidea, Apodes, Synbranchii]: i-xv, 1-455; IV. (1922) Heteromi, Solenichthyes, Synentognathi, Percesoces, Labyrinthici, Microcyprini]: i-xiii, 1-410
Gallery
File:Portrait of Max Wilhelm Carl Weber.jpg, Portrait of Max Wilhelm Carl
File:Max and Anna Weber around 1890.jpg, Max Wilhelm Carl Weber and Anna Weber-van Bosse around 1890
File:Siboga expedition group portrait in laboratory.jpg, Siboga expedition group portrait in laboratory
File:Leden der expeditie.jpg, Siboga expedition group portrait
Taxon described by him
*See
:Taxa named by Max Carl Wilhelm Weber
See also
*
Mattheus Marinus Schepman
Mattheus Marinus Schepman (17 August 1847 – 19 November 1919) was a Dutch malacologist. He was one of the foremost collectors of mollusc shells in the Netherlands, and was also high on the overall list of European collectors.
Dutch collectors ...
*
Anna Weber-van Bosse
Anna Antoinette Weber-van Bosse (27 March 1852 – 29 October 1942) was a Dutch phycologist, specializing in marine algae.
Life
Her interest in botany and zoology started at a young age, inspired by regular trips to the Amsterdam zoo. She att ...
References
External links
* Querner, H., 1976. Weber, Max Wilhelm Carl. In : C. C. Gillispie (ed.), ''Dictionary of scientific biography'', 14 : 203 (Charles Scribner's Sons, New York).
* Pieters, Florence F. J. M. et Jaap de Visser, 1993. The scientific career of the zoologist Max Wilhelm Carl Weber (1852-1937). Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 62 (4): 193-214.
Biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weber, Max Carl Wilhelm
1852 births
1937 deaths
Biogeographers
20th-century Dutch zoologists
W
19th-century German zoologists
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Scientists from Bonn
University of Amsterdam faculty
University of Bonn alumni