Johann Friedrich Adam, later called Michael Friedrich Adams (1780 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

– 1 March 1838, in Vereya) was a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

from St. Petersburg,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. He studied from 1795–1796 in the

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, M ...

of St. Petersburg. In the years 1800–1802 he traveled across

Transcaucasia The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

in the entourage of Count

Apollo Mussin-Pushkin Count Apollos Apollosovich Musin-Pushkin (russian: Аполло́с Аполло́сович Му́син-Пу́шкин; February 17, 1760 – April 18, 1805) was a Russian chemist and plant collector. He led a botanical expedition to the Ca ...

(1760–1805). In 1805, he was part of a scientific team attached to the unsuccessful diplomatic mission of Count

Yury Golovkin Count Yurii Alexandrovich Golovkin (russian: Юрий Александрович Головкин, links=no) (1762–1846) was a Russian diplomat who served as Russian Minister (ambassador) in Stuttgart (1813–18) and in Vienna (1818–1822), b ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. After the failure of the mission, he and many of the other scientists stayed on in Siberia to pursue their researches. In 1806, while in

Yakutsk Yakutsk (russian: Якутск, p=jɪˈkutsk; sah, Дьокуускай, translit=Djokuuskay, ) is the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, located about south of the Arctic Circle. Fueled by the mining industry, Yakutsk has become one of ...

, he heard about an intact woolly mammoth carcass near the mouth of the

Lena River The Lena (russian: Ле́на, ; evn, Елюенэ, ''Eljune''; sah, Өлүөнэ, ''Ölüöne''; bua, Зүлхэ, ''Zülkhe''; mn, Зүлгэ, ''Zülge'') is the easternmost of the three great Siberian rivers that flow into the Arctic Ocean ...

. He hastily arranged an expedition to the location where he was able to recover most of the skeleton, skin, and almost forty pounds of hair. At the time, and for almost a century after, this was the most complete mammoth known. He returned to St. Petersburg with his prize. The skeleton is now on display at The Museum of Zoology in Saint Petersburg, where it is known as the

Adams mammoth The Adams mammoth is the first woolly mammoth skeleton with skin and flesh still attached to be recovered by scientists. The mostly complete skeleton and flesh were discovered in 1799 in northeastern Siberia by Ossip Shumachov, an Evenki hunter ...

. Later in his life, he taught as assistant professor for

botanics Botany, also called plant science (or plant sciences), plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany ...

at the Medico-Surgical Academy of

Publications

*''Decades quinque novarum specierum plantarum'',

Tiflis Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

, 10 November 1802

References

* ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' - online version at

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1780 births 1838 deaths 19th-century botanists from the Russian Empire Scientists from Moscow Scientists from Saint Petersburg Full members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences {{Russia-botanist-stub