Peter Simon Pallas
FRS FRSE (22 September 1741 – 8 September 1811) was a Prussian
zoologist and
botanist who worked in Russia between 1767 and 1810.
Life and work
Peter Simon Pallas was born in Berlin, the son of Professor of Surgery
Simon Pallas
Simon may refer to:
People
* Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon
* Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon
* Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...
. He studied with private tutors and took an interest in
natural history, later attending the
University of Halle and the
University of Göttingen. In 1760, he moved to the
University of Leiden and passed his doctor's degree at the age of 19.
Pallas travelled throughout the Netherlands and to London, improving his medical and surgical knowledge. He then settled at
The Hague
The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, and his new system of animal classification was praised by
Georges Cuvier. Pallas wrote ''Miscellanea Zoologica'' (1766), which included descriptions of several vertebrates new to science which he had discovered in the Dutch museum collections. A planned voyage to southern Africa and the East Indies fell through when his father recalled him to Berlin. There, he began work on his ''Spicilegia Zoologica'' (1767–80).
In 1767, Pallas was invited by
Catherine II of Russia to become a professor at the
St Petersburg Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; russian: Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (РАН) ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across t ...
and, between 1768 and 1774, he led an expedition to
central Russian provinces,
Povolzhye
The Volga Region (russian: Поволжье, ''Povolzhye'', literally: "along the Volga") is a historical region in Russia that encompasses the drainage basin of the Volga River, the longest river in Europe, in central and southern European R ...
,
Urals, West
Siberia,
Altay, and
Transbaikal, collecting natural history specimens for the academy. He explored the
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central A ...
, the
Ural and
Altai Mountains and the upper
Amur River, reaching as far eastward as
Lake Baikal. The regular reports which Pallas sent to St Petersburg were collected and published as ''Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs'' (Journey through various provinces of the Russian Empire) (3 vols., 1771–1776). They covered a wide range of topics, including geology and mineralogy, reports on the native peoples and their religions, and descriptions of new plants and animals. In 1776, Pallas was elected a foreign member of the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Pallas settled in St Petersburg, becoming a favourite of Catherine II and teaching natural history to the Grand Dukes Alexander and Constantine. He was provided with the plants collected by other naturalists to compile the ''Flora Rossica'' (1784–1815), a Russian
flora
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring ( indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''.
...
, and started work on his ''Zoographica Rosso-Asiatica'' (1811–31), a zoography of Russia and Asia. He also published an account of
Johann Anton Güldenstädt's travels in the Caucasus. The Empress bought Pallas's large natural history collection for 2,000 rubles, 500 more than his asking price, and allowed him to keep them for life. During this period, Pallas helped plan the
Mulovsky expedition The Mulovsky expedition was a Russian naval expedition planned by Catherine II of Russia, to be led by Captain . The expedition never took place, due to the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War. Initial plans
In January 1787, the 22nd year of Catherin ...
, which was cancelled in October 1787.
Between 1793 and 1794, Pallas led a second expedition to southern Russia, visiting the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...
and the
Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
. He was accompanied by his daughter (by his first wife who had died in 1782) and his new wife, an artist, servants, and a military escort. In February 1793, they travelled to
Saratov and then downriver to
Tsaritsyn. They explored the country to the east, and in August travelled along the banks of the Caspian Sea and into the Caucasus Mountains. In September, they travelled to the Crimea, wintering in
Simferopol
Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, it is ...
. Pallas spent early 1794 exploring to the southeast, and in July travelled up the valley of the
Dnieper
}
The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...
, arriving back in St Petersburg in September. Pallas gave his account of the journey in his ''P. S. Pallas Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in die Südlichen Statthalterschaften des Russischen Reichs'' (1799–1801). Catherine II gave him a large estate at
Simferopol
Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, it is ...
, where Pallas lived until the death of his second wife in 1810. He was then granted permission to leave Russia by
Emperor Alexander, and returned to Berlin, where he died in the following year. His grave is preserved in the
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
''Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde'' (Cemetery No. I of the congregations of
Jerusalem's Church and
New Church) in
Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of
Hallesches Tor.
In 1809 he became associate member of the
Royal Institute of the Netherlands.
Pallasite
In 1772, Pallas was shown a 680-kg lump of metal that had been found near
Krasnoyarsk
Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Y ...
. Pallas arranged for it to be transported to St Petersburg. Subsequent analysis of the metal showed it to be a new type of stony-iron
meteorite. This new type of meteorite was called
pallasite after him; the meteorite itself is named
Krasnojarsk
Krasnoyarsk ( ; rus, Красноя́рск, a=Ru-Красноярск2.ogg, p=krəsnɐˈjarsk) (in semantic translation - Red Ravine City) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Kr ...
or sometimes Pallas Iron (the name given to it by
Ernst Chladni in 1794).
Commemorated
Several animals were described by Pallas, and his surname is included in their common names, including:
Pallas's glass lizard,
Pallas's viper,
[Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Pallas", p. 199).] Pallas's cat,
Pallas's long-tongued bat
Pallas's long-tongued bat (''Glossophaga soricina'') is a South and Central American bat with a fast metabolism that feeds on nectar.
Metabolism
It has the fastest metabolism ever recorded in a mammal, similar to those of hummingbirds. Although ...
,
Pallas's tube-nosed bat
Pallas's tube-nosed bat (''Nyctimene cephalotes''), also known as the Torresian tube-nosed bat or northern tube-nosed bat, is a species of megabat in the ''Nyctimene'' genus found in Indonesia. Its range may extend to New Guinea, but sightings m ...
,
Pallas's squirrel,
Pallas's leaf warbler
Pallas's leaf warbler (''Phylloscopus proregulus'') or Pallas's warbler, is a bird that breeds in mountain forests from southern Siberia east to northern Mongolia and northeast China. It is named for German zoologist Peter Simon Pallas, who fi ...
,
Pallas's cormorant,
Pallas's fish-eagle,
Pallas's gull,
Pallas's sandgrouse
Pallas's sandgrouse (''Syrrhaptes paradoxus'') is a medium to large bird in the sandgrouse family.
Naming
Marco Polo mentions a bird called ''Bargherlac'' (from Turkmen ''bağırlak'') in ''The Travels of Marco Polo'', published around 1300. ...
,
Pallas's rosefinch
Pallas's rosefinch (''Carpodacus roseus'') is a species of bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It is found in China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mongolia, and Russia. Birds are occasionally reported from further west and there are reco ...
, and
Pallas's grasshopper warbler.
Also, he is honoured in the scientific names of animals described by others, including: the Dagestani tortoise (''
Testudo graeca pallasi''),
Pallas's pika (''
Ochotona pallasi''), Pallas's reed bunting (''
Emberiza pallasi''), the
East Siberian grayling (''Thymallus pallasii'') and the
Pacific herring (''
Clupea pallasii'').
He was also honoured in the name of a plant genus, ''
Petrosimonia'' which is a genus of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...
s belonging to the family
Amaranthaceae
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making i ...
.
Streets in Berlin and
Castrop-Rauxel are named ''Pallasstraße''.
Pallasovka, a city in
Volgograd Oblast
Volgograd Oblast (russian: Волгогра́дская о́бласть, ''Volgogradskaya oblast'') is a federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the Volga region of Southern Russia. Its administrative center is Volgograd. The populat ...
, is named after him, and his monument stands there.
An
asteroid is named after him:
21087 Petsimpallas. A Belgian astronomer, Eric Elst chose the name "Sarapul 26851" for an asteroid because in Pallas's writings, he mentioned his liking of the city of
Sarapul, Russia.
Pallas was elected a member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in 1791.
Works
* ''Dissertatio inauguralis de infestis viventibus infra viventia'' (Leiden: Lugduni Batavorum, 1760).
* ''Elenchus zoophytorum, sistens generum adumbrationes generaliores et specierum cognitarum succinctas descriptiones, cum selectis auctorum synonymis'' (The Hague: van Cleef, 1766).
*
* ''Miscellanea zoologica, quibus novæ imprimis atque obscuræ animalum species describuntur et observationibus iconibusque illustrantur'' (The Hague, 1766).
*
*
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*
*
*
*
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* ''Spicilegia zoologica'' (Berlin, 1767—1780).
* ''Lyst der Plant-Dieren, bevattende de algemeene schetzen der geslachten en korte beschryvingen der bekende zoorten'' (Utrecht: van Paddenburg & van Schoonhoven, 1768).
* ''De ossibus Sibiriae fossilibus, craniis praesertim Rhinocerotum atque Buffalorum, observationes'' (''Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae'', XIII, Saint Petersburg, 1768).
* ''Naturgeschichte merkwürdiger Thiere'' (Berlin, 1769—1778).
* ''Dierkundig mengelwerk, in het welke de nieuwe of nog duistere zoorten van dieren, door naauwkeurige afbeeldingen, beschryvingen en verhandelingen opgehelderd worden'' (Utrecht: van Paddenburg & van Schoonhoven, 1770).
* ''Reise durch verschiedene Provinzen des Russischen Reichs'' (Saint Petersburg, 1771—1801).
* ''Merkwürdigkeiten der Morduanen, Kasaken, Kalmücken, Kirgisen, Baschkiren etc.'', Frankfurt & Leipzig, 1773–1777, 3 vol.
* ''Puteshestviye po raznym provintsiyam Rossiyskogo gosudarstva'' (Saint Petersburg, 1773—1788).
* ''Flora Rossica'' (Saint Petersburg, 1774–1788, in 2 parts).
* ''Sammlungen historischer Nachrichten über die mongolischen Völkerschaften.'' St. Petersburg, Frankfurt, Leipzig 1776–1801.
* ''Observations sur la formation des montagnes et sur les changements arrivés au Globe, particulièrement à l’Empire de Russie'' (''Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae'', Saint Petersburg, 1777).
* ''Novae species Quadrupedum e Glirium ordine'' (Erlangen, 1778).
* ''Mémoires sur la variation des animaux'' (''Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae'', Saint Petersburg, 1780).
* ''Katalog rasteniyam, nakhodyashchimsya v Moskve v sadu yego prevoskhoditel'stva deystvitel'snogo statskogo sovetnika i Imperatorskogo Vopitatel'nogo doma znamenitogo blagodetelya, Prokofiya Akinfiyevich Demidova, sochinyonnyy P. S. Pallasom, adademikom sankt-peterburgskim'' (Saint Petersburg, 1781).
''Icones Insectorum praesertim Rossiae Sibiriaeque peculiarium''(Erlangen, 1781–1806, in 4 issues).
* ''Opisaniye rasteniy Rossiyskogo gosudarstva, s ikh izobrazheniyami'' (Saint Petersburg, 1786).
* ''Sravnitel'nyye slovari vsekh yazykov i narechiy, sobrannyye desnitsey Vsevysochayshey osoby imperatritsy Yekateriny II'' (Saint Petersburg, 1787–1789, in 2 volumes).
* ''Tableau physique et topographique de la Tauride'' (''Nova Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae'', X, Saint Petersburg, 1792).
* ''Kratkoye fizicheskoye i topograficheskoye opisaniye Tavricheskoy oblasti'' (Saint Petersburg, 1795).
* ''Bemerkungen auf einer Reise in die südlichen Statthalterschaften des Rußischen Reichs in den Jahren 1793 und 1794'' (Leipzig, 1799—1801)
* ''Species Astragalorum descriptae et iconibus coloratis illustratae'' (Leipzig, 1800).
''Travels through the southern provinces of the Russian Empire''(London, 1802, in 2 volumes).
* ''Illustrationes plantarum imperfecte vel nondum cognitarum'' (Leipzig, 1803).
''Zoographia rosso-asiatica''(Saint Petersburg, 1811, in 3 volumes).
References
Further reading
*Mearns, Barbara and Richard – ''Biographies for Birdwatchers''
*
*
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External links
at GDZ Göttingen.
*
ttps://archive.org/details/zoographiarossoa11831pall ''Zoographia Rosso-Asiatica'' Volume 1 ttps://archive.org/details/zoographiarossoa22pall Volume 2 ttps://archive.org/details/zoographiarossoa31831pall Volume 3br>
''About Pallas's cats''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pallas, Peter Simon
1741 births
1811 deaths
German taxonomists
German arachnologists
18th-century German botanists
German ornithologists
Explorers of Siberia
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
Fellows of the Royal Society
Leiden University alumni
Scientists from Berlin
People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg
Russian people of German descent
18th-century botanists from the Russian Empire
Writers about Russia
18th-century Latin-language writers
19th-century Latin-language writers
18th-century German zoologists
19th-century German zoologists
Kurdologists
19th-century zoologists from the Russian Empire