Richard Otto Maack (also Richard Karlovic Maak,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

: Ричард Карлович Маак; 4 September 1825 – 25 November 1886) was a 19th-century

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 ...

n naturalist,

geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...

, and

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

. He is most known for his exploration of the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

and

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, particularly the

Ussuri The Ussuri or Wusuli (russian: Уссури; ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and forming part of the ...

and

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...

valleys. He wrote some of the first scientific descriptions of the natural history of remote Siberia and collected many biological specimens, many of which were original type specimens of previously unknown species. Maak, R.K. Atlas to «Travel on the Amur river made by order of the Siberian department of the Emperor’s Russian Geographical Society in 1855». Saint-Petersburg, S.F. Soloviev, 1859. Ethnically Maack was a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

from

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

; however, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

controlled this country during his lifetime. He was a member of the Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society.

Biography

Ravenstein-p376-Maack-Interior-of-a-Mangun-House

Maack was born in Kuressaare, Estonia and studied natural sciences at the

University of St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public university, public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a de ...

. In 1852 he became a professor of natural sciences at the Gymnasium in

Irkutsk Irkutsk ( ; rus, Иркутск, p=ɪrˈkutsk; Buryat language, Buryat and mn, Эрхүү, ''Erhüü'', ) is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast, Russia. With a population of 617,473 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is ...

and later director of the school. From 1868 to 1879, he was the superintendent of all schools of northern Siberia. During the 1850s he undertook a number of expeditions in Siberia including those to the

valley (1855–1856) and the

Ussuri River The Ussuri or Wusuli (russian: Уссури; ) is a river that runs through Khabarovsk and Primorsky Krais, Russia and the southeast region of Northeast China. It rises in the Sikhote-Alin mountain range, flowing north and forming part of the ...

(1859). He also participated in the Russian Geographical Society's first expedition (1853–55) to describe the

orography Orography is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain. Orography (also known as ''oreography'', ''orology'' or ''oreology'') falls within the broader discipl ...

, geology and population of the

Vilyuy The Vilyuy ( rus, Вилю́й, p=vʲɪˈlʲʉj; sah, Бүлүү, ''Bülüü'', ) is a river in Russia, the longest tributary of the Lena. About long, it flows mostly within the Sakha Republic. Its basin covers about . History The river is fir ...

and Chona River basins. He is credited with discovering ''Syringa reticulata'' var. ''amurensis'' simultaneously and independently of

Carl Maximowicz Carl Johann Maximovich (also Karl Ivanovich Maximovich, Russian: Карл Иванович Максимович; 23 November 1827 in Tula, Russia – 16 February 1891 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian botanist. Maximovich spent most of his life ...

Plants named after him

Maack is most famous for collecting previously unknown species and sending specimens back for scientific descriptions and naming. A number of those he found on his Amur River expedition bear his name. *''

Maackia amurensis ''Maackia amurensis'', commonly known as the Amur maackia, is a species of tree in the family Fabaceae that can grow 15 metres (49 ft) tall. The species epithet and common names are from the Amur River region, where the tree originated; it o ...

'' — Amur maackia *''

Lonicera maackii ''Lonicera maackii'', the Amur honeysuckle, is a species of honeysuckle in the family Caprifoliaceae that is native to temperate western Asia; specifically in northern and western China south to Yunnan, Mongolia, Primorsky Krai in southeastern S ...

'' — Amur Honeysuckle *'' Prunus maackii'' — Amur choke cherry *'' Iris maackii'' — water tolerant Iris *'' Aster maackii'' Image:Maackia amurensis.jpg, Amur maackia is a small tree. Image:LoniceraMaackiiFlowers3.jpg, Amur Bush Honeysuckle Image:Prunus Maackii A.jpg, Amur choke cherry is a small tree.

Animals named after him

*'' Pelodiscus maackii'' ( Brandt, 1857) — Amur softshell turtleBeolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Maack", p. 164).

Plants named by him

*'' Nymphaea tetragona'' var. ''wenzelii'' (Maack) F.Henkel et al. *'' Pleopeltis ussuriensis'' Regel & Maack *'' Rubia chinensis'' Regel & Maack

Selected publications

*Puteshestvie na Amu
Путешествие на Амур
(Travels on the Amur). 1859. St. Petersburg. *Puteshestvie v dolinu reki Ussuri/Путешествие в долину реки Уссури (Journey through the Ussuri river valley). 1861. St. Petersburg. *Вилюйский округ Якутской области (Vilyuysky District of Yakut oblast) (1877–86) *Очерк флоры Уссурийской страны (Essay about flora of Ussuri land). 1862. *Енисейская губерния (Yenisei province) in the "List of settlements Russian Empire".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maack, Richard 1825 births 1861 deaths People from Kuressaare People from Kreis Ösel Baltic-German people 19th-century Estonian botanists Estonian explorers Russian naturalists 19th-century botanists from the Russian Empire Explorers from the Russian Empire